ASSISTED AND AUTOMATED AERIAL REFUELLING - OVERVIEW OF THE CONDUCTED RESEARCH AT THE GERMAN AEROSPACE CENTER (DLR)

Abstract

Air-to-air refuelling has a high strategic and tactical relevance in many military missions, and is one of the most difficult and challenging maneuvers for pilots of military aircraft. Increasing the level of automation is expected to improving the efficiency and safety of air-to-air refuelling operations. Automation is also essential for the aerial refuelling of future unmanned air vehicles. This paper presents an overview of some recent investigations conducted at DLR on the modelling, simulation, and automation of air-to-air refuelling operations with the probe-and-drogue system. Various tanker/receiver pairs were considered: buddy-buddy refuelling between military transport aircraft (similar to A400M), the refuelling of fighters, helicopters, and UAVs by a military transport aircraft. A smart drogue concept (actively stabilised and/or steerable) is also investigated.