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Midair plane refuels done by a drone for the first time
- chrisseaton 5y agoImagine a wavefront of these refuelling each other and enabling a single crewed aircraft conducting an Operation BLACK BUCK style strike at reach. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck#/media/File:Refuelling.plan.black.buck.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck#/media/Fi...
- walrus01 5y agoIt's my understanding that for B2 missions the SOP is to fly from their base in the midwest US, get refueled several times on the way, perhaps drop some precision guided bombs on something on the other side of the planet, and fly home. There's a crew rest bunk where one of the two pilots can sleep on the way, in rotating shifts.
- wahern 5y ago"Here’s how B-2 bomber pilots pull off grueling 33-hour flights": https://www.defensenews.com/air/2019/04/29/heres-how-b-2-bomber-pilots-pull-off-grueling-33-hour-flights/ https://www.defensenews.com/air/2019/04/29/heres-how-b-2-bom... Reading the article it seems the pilot's personal 33-hour record was actually in a B-52. Here's an article that says the longest combat mission for a B-2 was over 44 hours: https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/the-stealth-bomber-elite-315558/ https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/the-stealth-bo...
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- remarkEon 5y agoIf you're interested, or are like me and just love visualizations of massive military ops, check out this from The Operations Room. Gets at the scale of Operation Black Buck and the massive complexity and coordination of getting those aircraft to their destination (and back). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5yAtuYPHK4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5yAtuYPHK4
- DougN7 5y agoWow! Thanks for sharing
- remarkEon 5y agoThat whole channel is amazing. Check out the Desert Storm series if you need to burn an hour or two on the weekend refreshing yourself on the history of modern warfare. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxRgfBXn6Mg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxRgfBXn6Mg
- avs733 5y agoJust for clarity because the title is a bit muddy: This is the first time an unmanned drone has refueled a manned aircraft. Specifically, a prototype of the Navy's future unmanned carrier based tanker drone transferred a small amount of fuel to a 2 seat F-18 super hornet. They used a 'probe and drogue' or 'basket' style refueling where the receiving jet initiates contact. The Navy demonstrated the reverse capability...unmanned drone receiving fuel from a manned tanker aircraft...in 2015. more details and history: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40955/the-navys-tanker-drone-makes-history-by-refueling-a-manned-aircraft-for-the-first-time https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40955/the-navys-tanker...
- adolph 5y agoPrior to that, in 2012, DARPA’s Autonomous High-Altitude Refueling program demonstrated fully autonomous aerial refueling of unmanned air vehicles at high altitude. This culminated with two modified RQ-4 Global Hawkdrones flying in close formation to test probe-and-drogue contacts, as seen in this video: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40955/the-navys-tanker-drone-makes-history-by-refueling-a-manned-aircraft-for-the-first-time https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40955/the-navys-tanker...
- engineer_22 5y agoThis refers, I think, to a drone being refueled by a manned aircraft. The roles have now reversed.
- dukeofdoom 5y agofascinating, wonder how much thrust needs to be adjusted because of the lowering weight. Would make a fun calculus problem for hight school students.
- throwawaysea 5y agoActual Navy press release: https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/2647709/fueling-the-future-mq-25-first-to-conduct-unmanned-aerial-tanking/ https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/26477...
- _def 5y agoImpressive. But a lot of my fascination was crushed by how that site aggressively destroyed my back button, lol.
- euroderf 5y agoUS air forces seems genuinely and deeply challenged by the vast distances of the Pacific, aggravated by the long ranges of Chinese missiles. Many (most?) current American workhorse aircraft were not designed for such distances. This robo-refueling method could really be a game-changer (and sorry for the tired cliché). Not to mention, it can help with the perennial shortage of tanker aircraft. Now if they could do the same for all aspects of theater logistics. Robo-resupply everywhere.
- dogma1138 5y agoThis is why the US navy is the 2nd largest airforce in the world, and why the US has airbases pretty much in every zip code.
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