I'm reading about all this wonderful stuff the MRTT has, but this begs a few questions:
1. A few days ago the mantra was:
The A330MRTT is wonderful and angelic as is and it does not need a demonic cargo door like the Frankentanker.
And now the mantra is:
Airbus is so wonderful because they've added a cargo door option to the angelic MRTT which adds SO much to its capabilities and utility.
I find it interesting that the mantra uttered by the true believers has done a complete 180 without the slightest pause.
2. Why did Airbus wait more than 4 years to offer all this stuff? Why did they not include it in their offer back in 2009? NG would likely have stayed in the program had Airbus done so.
3. Why does Airbus refuse to offer an MRTT based on the A330-200F? The freighter development is now done and it's in production. All that Airbus would need to do is offer a freighter with the -200 wing which includes the center wing tank rather than the current -300 wing without the center wing tank. How hard/expensive can that be? Surely there is a market for an air tanker that is more optimized for freighter duties than for passenger carrying duties. After all, the vast majority of the world's air tankers are optimized for freight rather than passengers. Perhaps there's a message there.
4. Perhaps all these new offerings relates to the A330NEO and A350. In 2009 Airbus could barely keep up with A330 orders and selling tankers was a minor sideline. Perhaps even a distraction. It could be argued that just developing and building a freighter was considered a distraction back then. At that time Boeing was desperate to keep selling 767s with the 787 coming on line and was willing to jump through all sorts of hoops to keep that production line open. Now Airbus is desperate to sell A330s to bridge the gap to the A330NEO. Airbus may have decided that tankers are the answer rather than a distracting sideline. And they may have decided that competing successfully against a "Frankentanker" in the world market place requires strengthening the "Multi" in MRTT.