Boeing proposes sth called the “Boeing Honeywell Uninterruptible Autopilot” to add drone-like remote control capabilities to its airliners (for security reasons, obviously). I'm not aware of a similar offering for Airbus but I have no doubt such a capability has existed in Airbus as well for perhaps two decades. I expected development of such a sensitive system for Airbus to be based in France, but your comment about “strong hints” and “play ball” has me thinking…