<p>Drones could soon handle mid-air refuelling by themselves, without the involvement of human pilots, US military flight tests have shown.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The findings raise the possibility of automated “flying gas stations” topping off robotic aircraft over future battlefields.<br /><br />The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) regularly uses unmanned drones to target militants in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen.<br /><br />The US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently flew two modified RQ-4 Global Hawk drones in close proximity to simulate mid-air refuelling.<br /><br />The Global Hawks, huge drones with 131-foot wingspans used for high-altitude surveillance, flew in formation with less than 100 feet separating the refuelling “probe” on one and refuelling “receiver” on the other during a two-and-a-half hour flight test.<br /><br />“The goal of this demonstration was to create the expectation that future High Altitude Long Endurance aircraft will be refuelled in flight,” Jim McCormick, program manager at DARPA said. <br /><br />“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 refuelling.<br /><br />“The lessons from AHR certainly extend beyond the HALE flight regime, and insights into non-traditional tanker concepts may offer further operational advantages,” McCormick said in a statement. Neither Global Hawk drone needed human guidance during the final flight test at the high altitude of 44,800 feet. <br /><br />The drones also maintained their tight formation despite turns and wind gusts of up to 37 Kph.<br /><br />DARPA had kicked off its two-year Autonomous High-Altitude Refuelling (AHR) program with the expectation that just one out of six aerial refuelling attempts would prove successful.</p>
<p>Drones could soon handle mid-air refuelling by themselves, without the involvement of human pilots, US military flight tests have shown.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The findings raise the possibility of automated “flying gas stations” topping off robotic aircraft over future battlefields.<br /><br />The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) regularly uses unmanned drones to target militants in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen.<br /><br />The US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently flew two modified RQ-4 Global Hawk drones in close proximity to simulate mid-air refuelling.<br /><br />The Global Hawks, huge drones with 131-foot wingspans used for high-altitude surveillance, flew in formation with less than 100 feet separating the refuelling “probe” on one and refuelling “receiver” on the other during a two-and-a-half hour flight test.<br /><br />“The goal of this demonstration was to create the expectation that future High Altitude Long Endurance aircraft will be refuelled in flight,” Jim McCormick, program manager at DARPA said. <br /><br />“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 refuelling.<br /><br />“The lessons from AHR certainly extend beyond the HALE flight regime, and insights into non-traditional tanker concepts may offer further operational advantages,” McCormick said in a statement. Neither Global Hawk drone needed human guidance during the final flight test at the high altitude of 44,800 feet. <br /><br />The drones also maintained their tight formation despite turns and wind gusts of up to 37 Kph.<br /><br />DARPA had kicked off its two-year Autonomous High-Altitude Refuelling (AHR) program with the expectation that just one out of six aerial refuelling attempts would prove successful.</p>