Surely BAE is aware of the nonsense that dictates Airtanker's primacy when it comes to the delivery of AAR? If we were at liberty to pick our own tactical tanker does BAE not suspect that we would use the A400M?
As we stand we could be looking at having a large flatbed A400M stuck in the FI doing MRR/SAR with the complete overkill of a Voyager keeping it company on the other side of the pan. Meanwhile other A400M users will be happily pumping gas into their FJs, including Typhoon.
Madness.