The A330MRTT can carry:
4 x 463-L military pallets in the forward lower cargo hold, plus another 4 x 463-L pallets in the aft lower cargo hold
Really? That would be a pretty good trick. A LOADED 463L pallet can be over 7 ft tall and can weigh up to 10,000 lbs. The USAF requirement was for a LOADED 463L pallet compatible with C-17 and C-130 for transhipment. Restacking the pallet in the theater for transhipment was not allowed. The A330's lower hold dimensions are not even compatible with a CH-46 configured 463L pallet.
And it's one thing to load a light (or empty) 463L pallet into the lower cargo hold of an A330 with a passenger nose gear. I's quite another to load a loaded pallet with that passenger nose gear. The freighter version of the A330 has a revised nose gear which gives the aircraft a level attitude on the ground. Not offering that nose gear for MRTT severely restricted pallet loadability.
28 NATO stretchers, 6 x critical care modules, 20 medical staff seats and 100 passengers on the main fuselage deck.
Its not the stretchers that need to be compatible. A small helicopter can carry stretcher patients. The aircraft needs to be compatible with USAF's existing stretcher
stanchions that stack stetcher patients 3 high. With the overhead luggage bins in the aircraft and no freighter floor, that is impossible.
BTW, have you ever tried to get a stretcher patient up the airstairs of an airliner and then make a 90 degree turn inside the airplane to move aft? It's pretty close to impossible. It's one thing to advertise the ability to carry 28 stretchers. Its entirely another thing to be able to actually load 28 stretchers with patients on them.
If customers find that they want more upper deck cargo space, an option is to have a cargo door and a potential 26 x 463-L pallets on the optional upper deck.
Once again, without a cargo floor to go with the cargo door, the pallet weight is severely restricted. And without a revised nose gear to go with a cargo door and cargo floor, pallet loadability is highly restricted.
But here's the real rub: Why did Airbus not offer a cargo door in the USAF competition? And still does not offer a cargo floor or a revised nose gear on the MRTT? I don't know. Do you? And can you see how not offering those features on the MRTT could hamper an Airbus offer relative to a Boeing offer? Especially if the purchaser "NEEDS" those features?