Air to air refuelling for X47B

Air to air refuelling for UAS has been spoken about for years, a single system to service Predator, Darkstar and the Global Hawk was once sought. Now the X47 joins the party.  Saber Tanker Aerial Group (STAG) are trying it in the civil area. Last year Cobham were chosen to support Global Hawk autonomous air to air refuelling trials. Bristol university is also part of the rush. Reliable tanking is all the rage. Take off and landing are the most difficult part of any flight op, manned or unmanned. So why land! Solicitation Number: N0001912PR00752 Notice Type: Presolicitation Synopsis: Added: Nov 02, 2011 10:13 am The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) intends to issue contract modifications to contract N00019-07-C-0055 on a sole source basis with Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, San Diego, CA to test previously developed software on the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) in order to continue the efforts to demonstrate hybrid probe/drogue United States Navy (USN) and boom/receptacle United States Air Force (USAF) style autonomous aerial refueling (AAR) as part of the UCAS Demonstration Program by CY 2014. Current UCAS-D efforts include demonstrating critical technologies for an unmanned, carrier suitable, tailless, low observable (LO) platform in a carrier relevant environment. The […]
Air to air refuelling for X47B