It doesn't take a genius to design a hose to drag behind a tanker, although I've seen drogue systems that were scary, like the VC-10. As long as the Air Force has the whole male-female relationship backwards Boeing has the experience to build the boom that works and they have jet ready now.
Well, I'd say you're wrong with your statement about needing a "genius" to design a drogue/nozzle system. Most of the engineers I worked with on 75% of the design were nothing spectacular - however, when it came to integration to the airframe and its' impact on aero performance, there you are wrong. Those aero guys who designed the GVT to validate the design are some of the smartest guys I've ever seen; to be without them would be to build a kluged system.