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A330MRTT tanker refuels F-16 fighter jets.

Aerial refueling is a difficult and risky technology that is not easy to accomplish even during daytime operations, let alone at night when visibility is poor. Now, French company Airbus is trying to solve this problem.

According to a recent press release from Airbus, the Singapore Air Force's A330MRTT tanker aircraft completed hundreds of nighttime automatic aerial refueling tests from May to June this year using a newly developed aerial refueling system, during which it safely refueled F-16D, F-15SG and other fighter jets. Airbus said these nighttime refueling tests were completed under different night sky brightness and different mounting conditions of the refueled aircraft.

According to the images released by Airbus, the aerial refueling system marks all aerial objects captured in the images with green frames, including the fuel pipe and the receiving aircraft. The refueling system identifies the aircraft type based on the green frame, finds the refueling port of the aircraft, automatically corrects the position of the fuel pipe and completes the docking and refueling.

It is reported that this aerial refueling system uses new image recognition technology and more advanced algorithm technology to achieve precise docking of the fuel delivery and receiving pipelines, which is particularly suitable for use at night. At present, this aerial refueling system has been certified by the Spanish National Institute of Space Science and Technology, and plans to obtain nighttime automatic aerial refueling certification by 2025. (Compiled by Cao Yabo)

(China National Defense News)