I wonder how pi$$ed-off they're feeling, knowing that the USAF almost certainly won't be allowed to buy not-a-Boeing, this time?
If I was EADS, and feeling really septic about the whole situation, then how about
:
- Bid an absolutely bog-standard RAAF (or UAE) aircraft, off their existing production lines
- Make absolutely no concessions to additional US content, only fit US GFE different to the other models
- Bid an almost-no-profit price, and shout out about how cheap it will be
- Point out loudly and often they can have the first aircraft Real Soon Now ™, not in quite a number of years time
- make a lot of noise about how it's a real aircraft, no R&D risk at all
Then when Boeing get the deal anyway, they haven't wasted any engineering money, and to meet their price (with a significant R&D effort) Boeing's eyes would be fair watering.
And if per chance they do get the gig, well they've put Boeing out of the tanker market which is a happy side-effect.