Originally Posted by
BEagle
KenV, I can't recall what you flew in the USN - or when? But if it meant you did some KC-135 BDA jousting, I'm sure you'll know what a PITA that was.
Oh yeah! We called it the "Iron Maiden" for a reason: she was deadly! All the other baskets are some kind of fabric, while the 135's BDA basket is metal!! If you hit that basket just a tiny bit off center, instead of guiding the probe in, it would instead pop out and slap the aircraft. And even if you got the probe in just right, the hose did not reel in/retract but instead would form a curve. Curve too much and it'll form a loop that can wrap around the probe, around the aircraft nose, smack the canopy, or a number of other very bad things. Pulling out was also problematic, with the basket often pranging the probe. But that was on aircraft where the probe was fixed stuck out ahead of the fuselage. On aircraft with retractable probes where it sticks out of the side of the fuselage, it can prang the fuselage. Not a good day. I'm told the BDA on the French KC-135s is the same as the USAF ones, but my personal experience says otherwise. They seemed more forgiving.
I'm guessing that perhaps the Italian Tornado pilots you mentioned having all that trouble tanking from a BDA equipped KC-135, this was their first experience with the Iron Maiden? That has to be a heart stopper doing that the first time on an actual combat mission with live ordnance.
And about the airplane I flew? You mockingly called it a "mini-jet" or some such. A-4 Skyhawk and finally F/A-18.
On the topic of MRTTs, if a true multi-role tanker still has an availability to carry any cargo with full tanks, the obvious question would be why didn't the designer fit bigger tanks?
You and a few other folks have already answered that one. Because it "does not need" it. It has "plenty of fuel off load" without belly tanks. Just as it has "plenty of cargo capacity" with just a belly cargo hold.
Beyond that, you'll have to ask Airbus and the operators of the A330MRTT. Or maybe ask
Just This Once. He claims to have "source data" for A330MRTT and might have some "source data" that addresses the reasoning behind this design.