Aerial refuelling F-35

KC-130J refuels a F-35 For long-range missions, aerial refueling is deemed critical for a fighter jet to complete its mission as internal...

KC-130J refuels a F-35

For long-range missions, aerial refueling is deemed critical for a fighter jet to complete its mission as internal fuel capacity enable only less than 1000 km range and external fuel tanks limit weapon carriage.
Without aerial refueling, many of these missions performed by the fighter jets of today, and those of tomorrow like the F-35, wouldn’t be possible.

The precision required to carry out aerial refueling is daunting. In this context we have to read the recent maiden autonomous aerial refueling achieved by US Navy's unmanned combat aircraft demonstrator X-47B.

Captured during recent flight operations at MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina

But how do they do it? How does an F-35, shooting through the sky at 240 knots (275 MPH), fly up beside a KC-130J or another tanker and plug in to a 93-foot fuel hose via a circular “basket” only about a foot-and-a-half in diameter.

The first step to aerial refueling is finding a rendezvous point for the tanker and fighter.
Once the F-35 pilot locates the tanker, they make contact with the pilot and initiate intercept.

The flight lead will join closest to the tanker while the wingmen line up in an echelon formation.

Next, while the planes are in what is called “pre-contact,” the fighter pilot will adjust mission systems to ensure their radar isn’t interfering with the tanker. In legacy fighters, this involves pushing a few buttons and turning a few knobs. But in the F-35, it’s simply a matter of selecting the “pre-contact” option selection button (OSB) on the cockpit’s touchscreen, which puts the radar into standby mode.

Once in position, and still in communication with the tanker pilot, the F-35 pilot selects the “Refuel” OSB from his flight control display.

The probe and drogue system

On the F-35B and F-35C variants for US Marines and Navy respectively, which use a probe-and-drogue system, this will deploy the refueling probe so that it can connect to the basket on the end of the hose. Once contact is made, the fighter pilot will move the basket up about 10 feet or so and the refueling begins.

For the US Air Force F-35A variant, which uses a flying boom aerial refueling, the pilot flies in a tight formation with the tanker. An operator at the back of the tanker and the F-35 pilot work together to ensure the boom aligns with the aircraft and is inserted directly into the fuel tank opening behind the pilot's canopy.