frankly Beags I don't give a toss who made them
But Slim, you did give a toss who makes them otherwise you wouldn't have made such a ridiculous statement about Boeing airframes in the first place.
Any boost to the AT force in the short-term (18-month) timescale you are talking about can only be achieved by increasing numbers of aircraft that are already in service, be they C-17, C-130 or TriStar. A completely new fleet would take at least that time to buy and build-up to any usable capability. The record in recent times must go to the C-17 which was about a year from 'flash-to-bang'. However, it had the great advantage of being able to graft-on military procedures that already existed in the USAF, and the aircraft was kept away from the the whole Qinetiq mire.
Do not think that just because there are some aircraft available from defunct airlines that this would be a quick and easy solution. The XL fleet for example are probably owned by leasing companies, who will be negotiating to place these jets with new operators. The military is a non-starter to take them as a short-term measure because once the jets are in military hands, have been worked on by unlicensed engineers and have received military mods they will become worthless to the the leasing company as they can't easily go back into commercial service.
BEags, as much as you are A310 salesman-of-the-year, I don't think that the AAR world is crying out for airframes right now so a couple of tanker-modified A310s would not really be a practical solution, unless they were to be part of a huge change of direction away from FSTA.
The optimum solution for Strat AT would be to accelerate the FSTA, but that is probably impossible. Additional C-17s and C-130s would be achievable relatively quickly but requires money......