What Is a Fuel Dispenser?

Aircraft specifically designed to refuel aircraft and helicopters in flight. Increase the range of the tanker, extend the endurance time, increase the effective load, and improve long-range combat capabilities. Most of the aerial refueling aircraft are modified by large transport aircraft or strategic bombers. Most of the refueling equipment is installed in the tail of the fuselage or in the pod under the wing, and is controlled by the pilot or fueler. Aerial refueling technology appeared in 1923. After World War II, air tankers were heavily equipped for troops. In the early 1980s, the United States developed a new KC-10A aerial refueling machine equipped with telescopic pipe refueling equipment. The length of the main pipe is 8 meters, the length of the casing is more than 6 meters, the total length is 14 meters, and the total oil load is 161,000 kilograms. Fueled three aircraft, which played an important role in the Gulf War. There are also shipborne aerial tankers and stealth tankers. The KC-46A tanker is the most advanced tanker currently in service in the United States. It will replace the C-135 fleet that has been in service for decades and support US military combat aircraft on five continents. Russian tanker: Il-78M-90A tanker, Il-96-400T tanker ^[1] .

To improve

The development of ship-based unmanned tankers has very important practical significance for the US Navy. It is necessary to equip the aircraft carrier with a tanker, but due to the limited space of the aircraft carrier, it is not possible to fit a large tanker. Therefore, at present, the aircraft carrier has used partner refueling to refuel the fighter aircraft in the air. The development of "ship-borne aerial tankers" will undoubtedly bring various benefits to the US Navy.

First, the technology is mature, the cycle is short, the results are quick, and the money is saved. Judging from the development of the US Navy's X-47B, there is no fundamental technical problem in continuing to develop carrier-based unmanned tankers. At the same time, the unmanned tanker does not need to be invisible, does not need high-speed maneuvering, the aerodynamic design is relatively simple, and it does not need to be equipped with a complicated weapon fire control system.

Second, it can free up a large number of carrier-based fighters to make up for the shortage of fighters in the future, and can also meet the long-term needs of aircraft carriers for carrier-based tankers.

The third is to effectively use the advantages of drones. Because unmanned refueling machines save a lot of necessary equipment for manned combat aircraft, such as life support systems, cockpits, etc., with the same takeoff weight, their fuel capacity is greater than the way of refueling by partners, and the battery life is longer. Maintenance and guarantee costs should be low.

It can be said that the development of the US Navy's ship-based unmanned tanker will definitely further promote the application of unmanned aerial vehicles to other areas. ^[6]

Stealth tankers come at a time when the U.S. Air Force wants a new generation of tankers that can support attacking fighters in an increasingly dangerous battlefield environment and have a higher survival rate. Lockheed Martin believes it has the answer: that is A fuel-efficient wing-body fusion aircraft capable of taking off and landing in short distances.

According to the US "Aerospace and Space Technology Weekly" website reported on October 24, not long ago, Admiral Carlton Everhart, commander of Air Force Mobile Logistics Command, initiated the development of the next-generation KC-Z tanker-this The appearance of this type of tanker may be very different from the KC-10, KC-135 and KC-46 that are now converted by commercial aircraft. Everhart said that as Russia and China and other opponents have developed cutting-edge air-to-surface missiles and anti-aircraft weapons to defeat the ability of the US military to penetrate their airspace, the situation of tankers in 2035 and beyond is increasingly dangerous.

Before the Air Force officially launched the development of future tankers (expected to be launched within half a year), aviation companies have begun to focus on solving this problem.

In the view of Lockheed Martin's chief engineer responsible for advanced mobility, Kenneth Martin, the new battlefield environment determines the need to develop tankers with lower signal characteristics (or even completely stealth), and to get rid of the design of commercial derivative tankers in the past. Martin speculates that future tankers will need to be capable of operating from 250 to 500 miles from a threat point, a range beyond the range of modern surface-to-air missiles, but entirely on enemy radar reconnaissance. Range and range of air-launched missiles. This, he said, means that the next-generation tanker needs to have a smaller radar cross-sectional area than traditional tankers, but it doesn't have to be as "sharp and sharp" as the F-35 or F-22.

Martin said that Lockheed Martin s vision is based on the wing-body fusion concept of future military transport aircraft. The idea is to fuse the wing with the front of the fuselage to improve aerodynamic and structural efficiency, while the rear of the fuselage The traditional design and T-shaped tail fins facilitate the airdrop. Martin said that the next generation of tankers may compromise the H-tail layout, which allows operators to enjoy greater flight control and stability than pure wing-body fusion aircraft.

Martin said: "The future tanker will likely still look like a transport aircraft, not a pure flying wing or delta wing aircraft, because it should be a fuel-efficient fuel tank that meets the daily use of Air Force Mobile Logistics Command. s plane."

The wing-body fusion model was designed with a large wing nacelle for fuel-efficient engines with very high bypass ratios, but Martin said,

Lockheed's next-generation tanker solution may use embedded engines to reduce the cross-sectional area on the radar.

Martin said: "We like the wing-body fusion layout-placing the engine on the wing-for a number of reasons: this design keeps the engine away from the ground (limiting debris from foreign objects); in addition, in the case of tankers, the jet flow position The increase is conducive to a better refueling environment, so I think the engine will eventually be basically fixed in this position. As for the installation of two large engines or four small engines, we are still studying. "

Given the need to control painting maintenance costs, Martin's research team is also evaluating the stealth coating grade required for the next generation of tankers. In addition, they are weighing whether to deploy advanced defense or offensive measures, such as lasers.

In order to effectively design short-range takeoff and landing tankers, Lockheed Martin s plan will use the results of the Air Force Research Laboratory s Speed and Agility proof-of-concept project. This is a ten-year project of NASA, Boeing and Lockheed Martin. , Designed to develop stealth short-range take-off and landing aircraft technology that can directly load the battlefield. After the Army waived future combat systems projects, the "Speed Agile" project also ended in 2012 and did not become a development project. However, Martin believes that the "speed agile" proof-of-concept project is still successful, and Lockheed Martin has been able to improve and validate many aerodynamic and propulsion integration tools now considered the next generation of tankers in large wind tunnel experiments ^[7] .