Unmanned Air Combat X-45C to get Autonomous Aerial Refueling capabilities
An F-15E Strike Eagle from the 494th Fighter Squadron at Royal Air Force, is refueled by a KC-135 Stratotanker from the 340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
July 12, 2005 The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Boeing an additional US$175 million to continue the X-45C portion of the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) Capability Demonstration Program, adding a full demonstration of a new Autonomous Aerial Refueling technology and culminating in an in-flight X-45C refueling by a KC-135 tanker in 2010. By adding autonomous refuelling to the X-45’s already scary capabilities , the United States will be able to provide “an even longer sustained, lethal presence in hostile airspace holding enemy forces open to immediate surveillance or destruction."
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