I would go for the idea of buying the Dutch 532s. The trainers and engineers will bleat about the infrastructure for the conversions and engineering but the transition from the 330 to 332 seem to be fairly simple judging by everybody else that has done it.
Cancellation costs for the Mk2 program is the killer and nobody is going to buy them if it is carried through. 17 532 airframes will not be enough but if it possible to halve the Mk2 programme the numbers may add up. Judging by my experience with organizations unloading surplus aircraft the Dutch aircraft could come quite cheaply. That with the reduced cost of the smaller Mk2 project may come to the same figures as the whole Mk 2 programme.
The performance would be similar but the Mk 2 would keep ahead with the lower basic weight. There is no reason why two differently equipped squadrons could not operate together using each others aircrew as required. I used to switch between the 330 and the 332 on a daily basis, as did a lot of others.
Last edited by Fareastdriver; 10th Apr 2011 at 14:56.