I use Aircraft with Schall's mods. Pretty sure this added the equipment grid (also have Optera's Vehicle Grid but if this was doing it, the grid would be bigger). The 4x4 Grid I have carries a 2x2 Vehicke Power Cell, 2 Vehicle Battery Mk2, and 2 Personal Roboport Mk2. Works wonders.

That said, having Aircraft that are not hugely weaponized with upgraded versions is a great idea. If you ever decide to code this so that it work with the existing mod, it'd make a near perfect add-on.

Just my 2 copper plates.

What type of integration were you thinking about? Customizability with Optera's Vehicle Grid mod? I can look into it.
I was not aware of that mod until you mentioned it.

I have been looking into integrating it into the Optera's Vehicle Grid mod, but I don't understand what exactly you're looking for. Unless it's one of Schall's Mods (which I hadn't heard of either..) you're referring to. I'd like some clarification on this.

What I meant was integrating your version of the cargo planes so that they use the same tech tree as the original mod, with the mk2 and mk3 branching from that instead of acting as a stand alone (well an option for this at any rate). Integration with Schall Mods would be awesome, but you'd have to be careful about what grid tags you give the plane, since his weapon options have specific tiers and you don't want to make this thing into a warship, that's what the flying fortress is for.

Really all I was talking about was insuring your mod would blend with the original in a way that is natural rather than separate. Am I making any sense at all?

Ye, that makes sense. It was my plan from the beginning. I'd like to see what you think. Currently it doesn't require Jets or Flying Fortress, but rather goes directly from Cargo Planes. Might chance this later, but now I've been working on this more or less non-stop for 11 hours and I've gotta go to bed. Almost 6am :o
I've now completed the "base" of this mod.
There are a few things I'm missing (namely creating a separate gun for each of the planes and art).

I've been trying to make the recipe make sense for the last few hours as well. Cargo Plane "Plating" is created with Iron & Steel, mk2 "Plating" is created with Steel & Low-density structure, mk3 "Plating" with Low-density Structure.
Add more armor-plating, some more chests, some more guns and a better engine. Connect it all together with some circuit boards and voila, you've got a better plane. I also added Bob's Mods support to the recipes.
Struggled a little with this, as it took me a while to realize guns are completely separate from normal items, but it works now.
File size went from 67KB to 715KB :s