Drones

US Air Force Seeking Drone Game-Changer

The U.S. Air Force is seeking drones that can be refueled in midair, by other drones. Currently, the drone must interrupt its mission to return to base, or a manned tanker aircraft will have to fly to where the drone is to refuel it. But since the whole reason for drones is to keep humans out of harm’s way, sending a tanker and its fighter escorts into hostile airspace to fill up a drone defeats the purpose.

The U.S. Navy has already demonstrated that its X-47B unmanned combat aircraft could be refueled by a manned tanker. Now, a new Air Force research proposal is calling for drones to refuel drones. The proposal, titled “Aerial Refueling of UAVs”, is aimed at developing a better way for air-to-air refueling of Class 4 and Class 5 UAVs, which comprise the larger drones such as the Global Hawk and MQ-9 Reaper.