If this actually comes to fruition then hoorah. Leasing might not be the best deal in terms of value for money but a) I don't care - we need the aircraft and this is the only can get them then do it, and b) if we do this the way the we did the C17 then we these things could be on the line in no time at all. Buying the aircraft just sends all the wrong messages to all the europhiles in govt - this is probably the only way we're going to get anything so crack on.
They'd be US spec and as such would be operated as a mini-fleet with, I suspect, crews only being qualified on one software level/aircraft.
VR - we've got people coming out of ears, it's aircraft we don't have.
WRT to sims I suspect that there would be a requirement to use sims that were running the same level of software although to be honest for run-of-the-mill stuff you'd be able to use the existing sims. The slightly more esoteric stuff would probably require use of foreign sims. No big deal really. Just needs a bit of lateral thought.