This week, "Salty Dog 502"—one of the Navy's two X-47B carrier based unmanned aircraft— did something no other drone has ever done: it lined itself up behind a human-flown tanker plane and pulled up for a fill-up. While the technology used for the refueling had been previously tested and demonstrated on a manned Learjet acting as an "unmanned aircraft surrogate testbed", this was the first time that a drone had completely autonomously flown in behind a tanker plane and completed an actual refueling.
In-flight refueling extends the range of military aircraft, allowing them to stay in the air longer while on patrol and fly extended long-range missions. The refueling plane used in the test, a modified Boeing 707, belonged to Omega Air Refueling, a DOD contractor that provides refueling to Navy and Marine Corps planes and the air forces of other countries. The test was important because of the roles envisioned for carrier-launched drones in the future: combat air patrol around carrier groups, persistent surveillance, and long-range attack missions.
The X-47B flies autonomously, guided by commands from a desktop application rather than by a pilot with remote controls. It was the first unmanned aircraft to ever perform a carrier landing with a tailhook capture (though other drones have been flown from ships, they have either been unmanned helicopters or were small drones captured by hook or net). And while drones have conducted in-flight refueling tests before—DARPA and NASA performed a test using two Northrop Global Hawks—those unmanned aircraft have been piloted by humans remotely.
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