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(update) On December 2010 NASA also performed a close study of Global Hawk's wake turbulence by using a King Air that flew in close formation.įive years ago a similar demonstration took place when one of NASA’s F/A-18B refueled from a Boeing 707-300 tanker. The air refueling will allow an RQ-4 to stay on air for around 120h (up from ~30h) and fewer aircrafts could perform the same mission.
#SCALED COMPOSITES PROTEUS FOR FLIGHT SIMULATOR X INSTALL#
It is easier (and cheaper) to install a drogue pod, so only a few Global Hawks will be converted to tankers the rest will only be able to receive fuel. This unusual arrangement is dictated by the need to retrofit the equipment to the existing Global Hawk fleet. It is worth noting that in contrary to air refueling practices both in this demonstration and on the KQ-X program the tanker follows the fuel receiving aircraft and sends fuel through its probe to the leading aircrafts drogue. The Proteus had a flight crew although only for supervision as a risk reduction measure. In this simulation only one aircraft was unmanned, the RQ-4. The refueling will take place at 60.000ft (double the usual flying altitude of a typical airliner) and at a speed of around 160kt, where thin air and low dynamic pressure makes for very challenging conditions. These tests are part of the KQ-X program by DARPA that will demonstrate autonomous aerial refueling between two Global Hawks in 2012. The two aircraft came as close as 40ft distance (video below) and they evaluated the flight control system response and engine performance at such high altitude. Two aircraft, the manned high altitude Proteus and one of NASA’s RQ-4 Global Hawks simulated refueling maneuvers while flying at 45.000ft. Northrop Grumman made a major step towards autonomous aerial refueling between two UAVs.