Fully autonomous high-altitude refuelling 9th October 2012 DARPA has completed close-proximity flight tests of two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), demonstrating technology for autonomous aerial refueling.
Global military aviation relies on a key enabler – aerial refueling. Fighters, bombers, reconnaissance and transport aircraft use "flying gas stations" to go the extra mile. Increasingly, UAVs are conducting combat and ISR operations, but UAVs aren't designed to be refueled in flight. In 2007, DARPA teamed up with NASA to show that high-performance aircraft can easily perform automated refueling from conventional tankers, yet many unmanned aircraft can't match the speed, altitude and performance of the current tanker fleet. The 2007 demonstration also required a pilot on board, to set conditions and monitor safety during autonomous refueling operations. Now, DARPA has addressed this capability gap. Its two-year Autonomous High-Altitude Refueling (AHR) program, which concluded on 30th September, explored the ability to conduct fully autonomous refueling of UAVs in challenging high-altitude flight conditions. During the final test flight, two Global Hawk aircraft flew in close formation, with less than 100 feet between refueling probe and receiver drogue, for the majority of a 2.5-hour engagement at 44,800ft (13,655m). This demonstrated for the first time that High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) class aircraft can safely and autonomously operate under in-flight refueling conditions. Multiple autonomous breakaway contingencies were successfully triggered well in advance of potentially hazardous conditions. Fuel systems were fully integrated and ground tested, demonstrating a novel “reverse-flow” approach with the tanker in trail. "The goal of this demonstration was to create the expectation that future HALE aircraft will be refueled in flight," said Jim McCormick, DARPA Program Manager. "Such designs should be more affordable to own and operate across a range of mission profiles than systems built to satisfy the most stressing case without refueling. The lessons from AHR certainly extend beyond the HALE flight regime, and insights into non-traditional tanker concepts may offer further operational advantages."
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