Continuing
the effort to prove whether it’s feasible for unmanned aerial vehicles to refuel in midair, the Air Force Research Lab and Boeing’s Phantom Works recently tests of the automated aerial refueling program. According to a Boeing release, the AAR system “autonomously guided” a Learjet serving as a UAV up to a KC-135R tanker and “successfully maneuvered it among seven air refueling positions behind the tanker.” There was a pilot on board to fly the Learjet to the rendezvous point, but after that it was all the AAR.
A new Navy missile could fill a long-range air-to-air need for the U.S. Air Force’s fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation fighters. The Navy’s portfolio acquisition executive for munitions posted information on the AIM-424 Long Range Air-to-Air Missile online on Aug. 22, the same day it unveiled the project at the service’s…