Aeriel Rearming ..... Air to Air Rearming of fighters

[persona_non_grata]

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Israeli Study Recommends Revolutionary Air-Borne Re-Arming Concept for strike aircraft and UCAVs.

FAR Technologies

With the use of massive aerial refueling, sophisticated target acquisition systems, and smart, precision weapons, modern air powers are capable of engaging targets anywhere and anytime. Yet, ordnance release requires terminating the aircraft's mission to re-arm for the following mission. Flying to and from a distant battlespace poses a "bottleneck" for massive airpower operations.

According to Nir Padan, CEO of the Israeli company FAR Technologies, the Air-Borne Re-Arming concept is real and could dramatically enhance operational tempo of combat aircraft and particularly UCAVs. Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and FAR Technologies performed a successful technological feasibility study anddesign of the Air-Borne Re-Arming (ABRA) system. Padan says that airborne rearming could increase the yield from any fleet of strike aircraft, particularly in long range and extended duration missions, typical to those carried out by UCAVs. Padan adds that on the long term, this mode of operation will require less missions, fewer takeoff/landing cycles, resulting in lower maintenance costs. A side benefit will be the improved safety and survivability of the operating bases and carriers.



The system consists of a bomb storage and loading device , attached to a boom at carried by the cargo plane and a smart pylon carried by the attack aircraft, which obtains the weapon from the robotic arm, attaching it to the weapon's bay or external weapon carrying pylons. An aerial rearming aircraft such as a C-130C, can carry up to 16 MK-84 guided or unguided bombs or considerably more smaller weapons (C-17/5 may potentially carry 4-6 times more). Bombs can be stored in an external or internal bay. The robotic uses an extendable boom, operating from the cargo plane. Controlled by an automatic engagement control (AEC) and supported aerodynamic lift surfaces, the robotic weapon loader will transfer the ordnance from the cargo plane to the attack aircraft. The smart pylon may include sensors and a camera for day and night use. It will interface with the automatic engagement control (AEC) system to automatically activate ordnance on the pneumatic multi-action ejection mechanism and an active sway brace for mid-air operation.

Based on the concept and technology, Professor Asher Tishler, from Faculty of Management, Tel Aviv University, conducted an analysis of the potential contribution of airborne rearming on 3 – 9 hours bombing missions at ranges of 250 to 1,000 nautical miles from the operating base. For UCAVs, 12 – 30 hour mission durations were analyzed.

The analysis demonstrated a dramatic improvement and increase of operational tempo, resulting in the number of attacks executed and target killed without increasing the aircraft fleet. Improvement of up to 100% was demonstrated for short range attacks and over 200% for extended range operations. Since aircraft do not have to return to base to rearm, the density of the attacks could be increased, resulting in faster target neutralization (time required to drop a set number of bombs on target could be reduced by up to 70%). Fielding Airborne Rearming systems could introduce new economies for air forces, where fewer resources can perform more missions, resulting in lower acquisition and maintenance costs. Other attributes of airborne rearming are more flexible use of forward operational bases, (as aircraft can takeoff without loads) and higher survivability of the home base and strike aircraft (reducing pressure from operating bases).

Source:
Air-Borne Re-Arming Concept for strike aircraft and UCAVs

[Markus]

Excellent concept to say the least.

[JonAsad]

i like innovation-

[Malik Usman]

hmmm.....destructive but briliant Idea

[persona_non_grata]

Yes it is more trickier than air to air refueling....

When it comes to air refueling there is a saying.... If you are going to encounter bad weather you are definitely going to encounter it during the air refueling phase..

Imagine bad weather during aerial rearming
It will be a nightmare

[Vibs]

Impressive. I'm sure the weather conditions would matter,but it does for para-trooping as well. When combined with aerial refueling could help the land based Airforce get a reach in the oceans that was normally restricted to carrier based aircraft.

[nomi007]

Israelis have brilliant ideas

[nomi007]

Far Technologies
more detail is here

[persona_non_grata]

The US too worked on this Technology.....
The link provided in Wikipedia is dead... I will try to find it

The text says:

Aerial rearming

In 2003 the U.S. Air Force and Far Technologies applied secretly for patents on mid-air rearming of aircraft. The technique proposed is similar in many respects to airborne refueling, with a number of notable modifications. The airborne rearming system comprises a rearming plane with an internal bomb storage area and loading device consisting of a large aft door and a modified remote-driven robotic arm (boom) equipped with a day-night camera as well as sensors. A special pylon to receive the arms from the boom is fitted onto the attack aircraft. At present financial and technological problems stand in the way of aerial rearming, mainly the need for an automatic system to perform the rearm currently under development for aerial refueling.

[IND151]

self delete

[krash]

I think we already have a thread on this. I remember reading this here before.

[persona_non_grata]

I think we already have a thread on this. I remember reading this here before.

Maybe some one had posted the info.

[Tempest II]

I asked this question (on a different forum I think ???) nearly 5 years ago. I think it is doable:

[Chogy]

I'm not a fan. By the time you've re-armed, you're going to need fuel again, and by the time you've done both of these, you could have dashed home for both. Fueling is proven and fast... this seems like an answer in search of a problem.

[persona_non_grata]

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I'm not a fan. By the time you've re-armed, you're going to need fuel again, and by the time you've done both of these, you could have dashed home for both. Fueling is proven and fast... this seems like an answer in search of a problem.

The US has obtained secret patents on the technology anyway .......

Why not re fuel and re arm at the same time ?