#Helicopter Refueling

[nocternalrandomness]

USMC CH-53 with a USAF HC-130J during joint operation training over Tucson, Arizona

[vaevictis2]

[freewayshark]

So this movie (Shark Season) is not actually that bad comparatively in the bad cgi shark oeuvre however it keeps cutting from the at least mostly entertaining parts with the girls out on the water with the sharks to these really long conversations between the one girl’s dad and some like coast guard guy or whatever he is and they are having the most bizarre, circular conversations that I must believe they filmed this movie and were like shit, it’s not long enough, so they filmed those scenes.

[enriquemzn262]

The might of American logistics in one picture:

A KC-130 Hercules tactical tanker refuels a CH-53K King Stallion heavy lift helicopter carrying an F-35C Lighting II 5th generation VTOL stealth fighter jet.

[ctimenefic]

the living and the dead

A little entry for @motorsport-halloween fest that's the closest I've got to actual horror.

It's too short to summarise without giving the whole game away, but, uh, warning for character deaths? Plural? And ritualised violence, and blood, and dismemberment, I guess.

It hadn’t made any sense, how right Albon seemed. They always come back wrong. 

He misses Logan’s call because of a sponsor event; six hours later, when he’s staring blankly at the blood oozing down from the ragged hole in his kitchen wall, Albon’s call comes through loud and clear.

“Oscar,” he says. His hesitance sounds pathetic. “Don’t do it.”

“Fuck you,” Oscar replies, and hangs up. When he flexes his hand, the serum-shiny clots on his knuckles break open. 

It takes him a while to realise the ringing isn’t in his ears again. 

“Really,” Albon says, more certain now, insistent. “It’s not worth it. Don’t do it.”

“You’re there, aren’t you?” Oscar asks. Even to himself he sounds flat. Finished. “Grove. You fucking watched.” He hears Alex swallow round his tombstone teeth. 

“I- He was okay. He understood. Oscar, seriously, don’t do it. He won’t thank you for it.”

“Fuck you. Don’t bury him deep,” he warns, and ends the call. 

He’d liked Albon, is the thing. When he’d first been in the F1 paddock, as a reserve, he’d expected something a bit more gruesome. Something wrong. But Alex had smiled, and cracked bad jokes, and touched his mechanics and other drivers without making them shudder. Even close up, he looked normal. His t-shirts sat high and tight on his neck, sure, but that was hardly uncanny. He sweated. He breathed. He hadn’t looked like Ocon, red-eyed, waxy and sallow and so obviously desperate to rip out Pierre’s throat that Renault had wired his jaw shut. 

It hadn’t made any sense, how right Albon seemed. They always come back wrong. 

At Monza ‘22, Oscar had assumed the subterfuge had been stretched too thin. He didn’t want to dwell on it, but he’d had a vague idea of something out of The Exorcist, Alex crawling across ceilings, spewing bile. After all, a dead man couldn’t have appendicitis. 

Except, it turned out, he could. 

He’s dwelling on it now. 

Oscar had missed Logan’s call, so he’d found out through notifications. First:

George Russell has removed Logan from the GPDA Drivers Chat

Then

BREAKING: Logan Sargeant CULLED as Vowles rededicates Williams

And

WATCH THE VIDEO: Grove ceremony called a “bloody mess” by F1 legend 

Another one slides onto his screen now, right under another call from Albon he declines.

George Russell: Do you want to know how?

He hits the autoreply that WhatsApp prompts: Yes

There was no doubting that Albon had been culled. Oscar had seen the pictures, nineteen and in awe of what Red Bull would do for victory. (It had only been photos, no video. The rumour was they’d had to drug him, that he’d stumbled to the altar and still fought there, and it’d be a bad look to have their sacrifice calling for his mum.) 

They’d cut his throat to the white of the bone. The blood had flowed down across the bodywork of the cars – both of them, Alex’s and Max’s – before it hit the earth. Oscar had wondered if it made the sponsors happy, the evidence of Christian’s commitment splattered bright red over their names. So much blood, it couldn’t be denied, couldn’t be fake. And anyway, there was the last picture, of Albon pale and split and unmistakably dead, curled over the halo, the candlelit shallow grave just visible in the background. 

And yet. Come 2022, he smiled. He joked. He touched. 

Somehow, George Russell had dragged Albon’s filthy corpse into Grove and brought him back whole. 

So it can be done. 

George is still in Monaco. Oscar rings round, has a private jet refuelling on the tarmac in Nice, a helicopter ready for him in twenty minutes. George had said it wouldn’t take long to teach him. 

They meet on a beach by the helipad. There’s not much moon left – and it makes it worse, that Vowles couldn’t wait a week for the new moon and an auspicious time before sharpening his knife – but what little light there is makes George stark against the pale sand. His shadow stretches back almost to the cliffs. 

“Terrible business,” he says in greeting. “I’d thought they’d go for retirement.”

Oscar swallows round the rock of guilt in his throat. He’d thought it too, since almost the start of the season – that Williams would let Logan go, and Oscar would have to bully him into wielding the knife, carving through his wrists. Not ending up like Latifi, too stubborn to see he’d run out of track, culled by default, an afterthought disposed of somewhere in the winter break.

He’d have cut off Logan’s hands himself to keep him. Pressed kisses to the stumps. Hell, Fernando still drives like a champion with his prosthetics, and yes, maybe he casts two shadows now, but that’s better than culling. 

“I’d’ve thought James could cut more cleanly,” George adds, a disapproving note in his voice. “Ruthlessness needs a steady hand.”

“Can we not?” Oscar interrupts. “Just- what do I need to do to get him- what do I need to do?” 

“Well, you’ll need the body first. Can’t do anything while he’s still inside her. Try to get as much of the dirt off as possible. You’ll want to check his mouth.” George pauses, and Oscar shoves his hands deep into his pockets to avoid picturing mud on Logan’s white teeth, his blue lips, his limp, cold tongue. 

“She’s clingy,” George adds. It makes Oscar feel uneasy, hearing him so dismissive, flippant, about a power so beyond knowing. “We called her Gaia, at Williams.” A little smile plays at the corner of his mouth, like it’s a secret. Like Oscar cares about names right now. 

It’s mostly common knowledge, anyway. Red Bull call her Mother, because they don’t much go in for subtlety. McLaren use Terra, which Oscar thinks fits better. Terror. That’s what she is. 

She’s had many names. Only one state, though. Hungry. 

The earth is hungry. They pump out her blood, rip her flesh, burn her in their cars and she wants recompense. 

“That’s the easy bit. After that, you have to consider the price.”

Oscar squares his shoulders. The lights of Monaco are all behind him, only the black of the ocean ahead. The entire city could wink out of existence, and he wouldn’t know. 

For all he cares, it already has. They filmed Logan’s cull, they put it on the internet, but Oscar’s just as dead without him. 

“What is it?”

George’s smile has too many teeth. “What do you think?”

He thinks of the earth’s anger, how the McLaren might fade away underneath him, like the Mercedes does to George. How it might snatch his home race, his poles, give Lando an advantage he doesn’t deserve. He could live with that. 

He thinks of the way George talks about a WDC sometimes, like it’s a decade or more out of reach. Like twenty years in the sport won’t wear the flesh from his bones, and take his hands at the end of it all the same. He could live with that. 

He thinks of Latifi, face down in the dirt. There hadn’t been a video then either. Toto had been busy, skiing – someone else had stepped in, carved him up. The photos hadn’t captured their face, but the long arm had worn a sponsor’s watch. 

He could live with that.

“Anything. I’ll pay anything.”

George chuckles. It sounds wrong.

“Are you sure?”

He turns to argue, shout, punch it out of George if he has to. George doesn’t move his body at all. But his head turns. His eyes are too large. Too dark.

Before Oscar can speak, a large wave breaks too close, a crack of saltwater against rock and sand. Sea foam races up the beach, drenches Oscar’s thongs.

A perfect ring around George’s feet remains bone dry. But where the sand is wet, things squirm under the surface. Hundreds of lugworms raise wiggling paths away, away, away from the shape of him, the cast of his shadow. 

Alex smiles-

but not at George. 

He cracks jokes- 

but not with George. 

He touches-

but not-

He came back right. But he hadn’t walked out of Grove alone. 

George unhinges his jaw. A thousand voices speak.

Deep in his pocket, Oscar’s phone starts ringing. 

“Are you sure?”

---

Logan Sargeant rots in a shallow grave and a dead man wins a championship. 

---

“Hey. It’s me. Obviously. Uh. So. It’s not gonna be an easy retirement like we thought. They- they think she’s too hungry. After the crash. The factory shook and- well. It’s my job. But, um, if you can get here. Before- I’d like that. I miss you. I will miss you. I’ll keep my cell on, so- yeah.”

[bekolxeram]

I have a lot of thoughts about Tommy being a part of the emergency landing rescue, just not shown on screen. If you read my blog regularly, you would know my stance for the past months.

I really want to write missing scene fics, but as you know, I'm not good at writing fiction. So here is something that's kind of a fic, but doesn't even come close to all of the hc I have for Tommy's role in the plane disaster.

Enjoy? And perhaps I would write more about it in the future.

I apologize for any OOC or general bad writing.

Everywhere he sees, is calm, static, empty and strangely menacing.

To the average person, the airport goes to sleep with the rest of the city, but to Tommy, the bustling cacophony of cargo aircrafts have been keeping him company in the dead of night ever since he transferred to Harbor. Adjusting from being a regular firefighter to a firefighting pilot was a difficult one for him. In his first year at Harbor, he often found himself staring at the ceiling at night, mind racing with the idea of all the doubts his father had instilled in him and all the people he hurt when he was deep in denial. The sole remedy to his wandering mind, was the soothing noise of jet engines powering up, carrying precious messages and memorabilia to the other side of the earth, bringing a piece of home to those who felt as lost as Tommy did.

But now, Tommy hears nothing but ocean waves and the occasional breeze from the shore.

Humans are not meant to fly. It’s through sheer ambition and stubbornness that people strap giant fans powerful enough to suck air down and away into submission, and be propelled into the air, thanks to Newton’s third law. Everyone who has been kept aloft by an iron bird knows, silence is deadly. It means there is no longer any machine in place to keep you airborne, you are about to fall out of the sky like a dying autumn leaf.

Tommy hears nothing but the looming sense of danger…

And the ground personnel trying to refuel his helicopter.

“Sorry, I’ll get out of your way.” Tommy takes his tablet from the chopper and starts walking towards the maintenance hangar, which is currently housing a fourth of LAFD’s total equipment. He takes a look at the ADS-B Exchange tab on his device, still showing a straight, stable flight path, sign of the sophisticated autopilot flying the aircraft to safety. With a more optimistic state of mind, Tommy walks towards his colleagues near the 217 engine, when suddenly, he spots the 118 truck right next to it.

“Hey, Captain Wilson! I heard Gerrard is in the hospital?” Tommy asks.

“Yeah, we haven’t heard from Presbyterian yet, but who cares? As long as he’s not dead, he can stay there as long as he wants and leave us alone.” Hen waves her hand, clearly dismissing any possible concern for Gerrard.

“I’m hoping for an early retirement.” Howie adds, still sarcastic, but not as cheerful as his usual self.

“So where’s Evan?” Tommy looks around, “I saw his texts about doing something bad and putting Gerrard in hospital, then nothing, I can’t reach him at all. Is he… suspended?”

“Not at all. For what it’s worth, he saved Gerrard’s live.” Eddie chimes in, “He’s probably stuck in traffic. Rush hour is always a nightmare.”

“Why would he be stuck in traffic, shouldn’t he be here with you guys?” Tommy frowns, trying to piece together what is going on.

Eddie, Hen and Howie look at each other, like they are trying to communicate with eye contact alone, who is going to break the uncomfortable news. “Buck went to get Bobby from the TV show set.” Hen says. Before Tommy can ask another question, Hen continues, “Athena is on that plane, she’s flying it.”

Tommy instinctively closes his eyes, and says a silent prayer. He has seen his fair share of pilot incapacitation induced talk-down landings in his career, but they have all been on light private aircrafts, never a commercial airliner. He takes a glimpse at his tablet again, Athena’s plane is still flying steadily towards due north, away from the ocean. That should be good news, right?

“Don’t worry. Modern airliners have so many flight computers that they basically land themselves.” Tommy tries reassuring the 118, “if there’s anyone you want on that plane, it’s Athena. That woman has survived the worst disasters and come out to tell the tales. She’s so resourceful. If there’s anyone who can bring the plane down safely, it’s her.” He points to Athena’s flight, tracked by satellite, on his tablet.

“Or… you? You’re a pilot, you can land that plane, right?” Eddie asks.

“I fly helicopters, Eddie.” Tommy states with a blank face, like it's a matter of fact.

“But you fly planes too, yeah? Buck told me you took him to Catalina on a plane the other day.” Eddie presses on.

“That was a single engine propeller plane, this one is a twin engine jet airliner with engines the size of a firetruck. It’s a completely different kind of flying…” Tommy stares at Howie, “… altogether.”

“It’s a completely different kind of flying!” Howie echoes, while the other two seem utterly confused.

“Really? Airplane?” Tommy gasps, unsettled by the fact that Eddie and Hen have never seen this cinematic masterpiece.

“Come on, you’ve never seen Airplane? It’s the greatest comedy of all time!” Howie cannot believe it either.

“Anyway, have you guys been able to get a hold of Evan? I’ve tried calling him many times, but he isn’t answering.” Tommy waves his phone around to get his point across.

“Maybe he’s driving, I wouldn’t worry about it. If we can’t reach him, I doubt you would be able to either. His phone is probably on silent” Hen replies.

“Oh, that’s not an issue for us. He has a special notification set up for me.” Tommy says.

“Does anyone still use ringtones or notification sounds in this day and age?” Eddie asks, innocently.

“Who says anything about ringtones?” Tommy smirks, “you know there are different patterns of vibration for silent mode, right?”

“Ah, smart,” Eddie puts out his hand for a fist bump, “Wait… uurrgghhh eww….”

“It’s a sex thing, right? I love you guys, and I support you, but I don’t want to imagine my best friends getting freaky… It’s weird.” Eddie withdraws his fist and puts his hand on his face instead.

“Sorry,” Tommy shrugs, peeking at his tablet again, “I should probably get going. The plane is making its final descent. Everything looks good so far, but you should be prepared anyway.”

Jogging backwards, Tommy makes one last comment to comfort the 118, “Hey! Howie, remember 2005, when you first joined? We all got called to the airport for a sideway landing gear wheel, but it turned out so well, no one was injured, not even a scrape. It’ll be alright this time too, okay?”

Tommy thinks he sees Howie giving him a thumb up, but duty calls, he has to focus on his job from now on.

[kivaember]

Replaying AC6 for the 10th billion time but I finally realised why the PCA mechs in Historic Data Retrieval mission are all armed with flamethrowers when NO OTHER PCA unit anywhere else ever uses them... and it's because it's in the Egrebert tunnel, where a Coral surge had happened.

They're not there expecting a fight, they're off doing their own thing, and patches of the map are burning. So, it's likely the PCA were actually burning the Coral off after a surge happened to prevent it from forming a new dense colony or something.

It's a pretty neat detail, and on a replay it's a nice little foreshadowing nod as to what the Fires of Ibis were and what Walter may have planned.

Additionally, in the Attack The Refuelling Base mission, a few of the PCA MTs were armed with stun guns - which makes sense because you're attacking them literally right after they've claimed the refuelling base from Balam. They weren't killing every single Corp mech there, they wanted to capture and interrogate a few too! Hence: some of the MTs were armed with stun guns - and they were located near the grounded helicopters too!

Ahh, it's so cool when you notice things...

[altocat]

How did Glenn and Sephiroth’s final moments go when they went separate ways after Rhadore? I’m picturing Glenn and the others dropping Sephiroth off at HQ and flying away…

The group gets info on where everyone is meeting up--a smaller Shinra base situated on the far outskirts of Wutai just a few hundred miles away. They drop in to refuel and seemingly regroup with the other workers before silently packing up and making a discreet run for it.

Sephiroth looks on in silence, knowing exactly what they're doing but feeling as if he has no right to say anything. He doesn't stop them. And he doesn't expose what they're about to do either. He and Glenn share one last strained glance before the older man turns away. Sephiroth wants to go to him, explain everything. But part of him also remembers the locket, a sense of hopeless despair rising within him. He knows it's over. And he only has himself to blame for everything. He didn't come out completely empty-handed--he saved them. They're alive. If he failed as a leader in all other aspects, he was at the very least able to protect his team.

He watched the helicopter lifting off, shrinking to a small black dot in the far horizon. He holds himself, presses a hand to his chest as if ghosting his fingers near where his mother's presence would have been. But it's a hollow sensation. No locket. No comfort. Just that receding shape in the distance, reminding him that everything is broken, everything is lost.

And that there's no escape.

Such is the path of a hero.

[la-grosse-patate]

Summary: After one successful expedition, Roger and Isabel land in a safe spot to asses the damage, refuel and admire... the... sunset ☀ Wordcount: 875

If Isabel had any more coherent thoughts left in her brain, they died on that damned aircraft carrier. Either squashed under dozens of pairs of motocross boots and beefed up cars, or pulverized by highwaymen bullets and rockets. And despite the tranquility of their hidden safe spot, the constant sizzling of her abused eardrums only seemed to get worse

With one shaky hand placed atop her still racing heart, she was glad to see that Timber was in much better shape than her.

“A few bullet holes here and there,” Roger’s voice echoed from behind her, where he knelt next to his beloved helicopter, “but nothing La Grosse Patate can’t handle.”

It was good news, right? Sure, she could walk away with permanent hearing loss, but they all made it through. Timber was alright, Roger was alright, La Grosse Patate... Had new ventilation holes, but by the grace of God, they were all fine.

Right?

A light chuckle escaped her throat, though it carried no amusement.

Rush would scold her, give her the ‘I told you so’ speech. Tell her that the risk wasn’t worth the reward. And even though the last few minutes of her mission were a blur, fragments of what had transpired at the lighthouse during her and Timber’s frantic escape were slowly starting to come back to her.

The captain didn’t expect shit to go south so quickly. One minute she was sneaking around, playing deadly ninja, the next she was running for her life with that stupid fucking package. And waiting for Roger to come pick her up felt like the longest two minutes of her life.

Maybe Rush was right, after all.

Still in flight mode, still high on adrenaline, she felt as wild as the sky looked.

Hues of pink and orange graced her tired eyes, and she felt the corners of her lips turn upwards. Happy to see that mother nature still did her thing. It was like she knew just what Isabel needed in that moment.

But as she stood there, admiring the show of colors, stars and clouds, she failed to notice Roger slowly making his way towards her.

“Enjoying the view, captain?”

Her dumb smile dropped from her face faster than Nana’s victims.

Come on, girl.

Scrambling to find two brain cells to rub together, “Yeah, it’s... nice,” was all she could muster before bowing her head in shame and defeat.

As the pilot came to stand in front of her, she felt her neck getting warmer. How he managed to turn her brain to mush in a matter of seconds was beyond her. She was pathetic.

“You did great back there, chérie.”

Suddenly, the sand beneath her feet became absolutely enthralling.

“You should have seen Timber,” she deflected, trying her damned hardest not to let the blush creep higher than the scarf around her neck. “He tore their asses to shreds. Shreds, I’m telling you.”

Proud of herself for finally forming a somewhat proper sentence, she lifted her gaze to look for her canine companion. For a distraction.

But instead of keeping her mouth shut, she opened it again to ramble some more.

“It was a total massacre. Timber went for their faces everytime,” she beamed like a proud mother. “Couple guys even threw themselves into the water to run from him, but I’m pretty sure they met an even worse fate,” she nodded to herself, staring at the ground. “Sharks, y’know?” she elaborated, meeting the man’s eyes to make sure he understood what she meant. “There- there are sharks in the water there and...”

When the puzzled look on his face turned to mirth, and his boisterous laugh filled her still buzzing ears, she felt as if the weight of a thousand aircraft carriers lifted from her chest.

“Besides,” she ventured with renewed confidence, “you did all the hard work. Flying us all the way here, I mean... that’s a lot of unslept hours, and stress, and...”

Roger shook his head, and she shut right up.

“Seeing you kick ass gives me all the strength I need, Isabelle,” he assured her. A gentle smile still tugged at his lips. “And when that truck exploded, it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

Fuzzy memories replayed in her mind, rewinding to the exact moment she discovered those crates of fireworks and rigged the highwaymen truck that carried them. That was, in fact, a genius move on her part. Funny how she totally forgot she did that.

“En fait, the second most beautiful thing,” he corrected.

Isabel made a face. How dare he downplay her work, her craft and her tactics, when she’d just infiltrated the enemy stronghold, outsmarted the most dominant faction in the region and stole their most precious resources gosh dang it he was smiling, he was smiling at her, why was he smiling at her?

Once her face started flushing, there was no stopping it. And when she felt her ears burn, she prayed with every fiber of her being that the deeper orange shades in the sky did a great job at concealing the color in her cheeks.

Come on girl.

“You know what, I agree. This... sunset,” she scoffed, gesturing towards the view in front of them. “You don’t see this everyday. God really said ‘bless this day in particular’.”

Decided to draw the most simple thing ever to try and get myself back into shape. I haven't touched my graphic tablet in a very long time and my skills have gotten a bit rusty. As for my writing, well... English is not my first language.

Taglist [opt in/out here]: @theelderhazelnut @ravenmind2001 @where-she-went @skoll-sun-eater @thepachy

@whatwouldvalerydo @pnathaniellgsilver @yokobai @silvertonguedelf @josephseedismyfather

@noodlecupcakes @raresvtm @titiagls @inafieldofdaisies @cassietrn

[67-romeo]

AH-64 Apache helicopters from 1st Battalion (Attack), 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, Task Force Tigershark, make their way into the forward arming and refueling point at Forward Operating Base Fenty, October 3, in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. (Photo by Capt. Pete Smedberg, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade Public Affairs)

[nocternalrandomness]

Lockheed HC-130J fueling an HH-60W Jolly Green II

[girlactionfigure]

🔅Wednesday afternoon  - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

‼️SUICIDE DRONE - HIT - from Hezbollah - hit the community center in Arab Al-Aramsha - 6 serious injuries - 1 critical. (( conflicting reports if civilians or soldiers.  Conflicting reports on rocket or missile or drone, I think from viewing video from the sound it was a suicide drone. ))

‼️During evacuation of the wounded by medical helicopter, ROCKETS fired at the town, 2 rounds!  (( I’d add statements like war crime and don’t attack medical personnel or hospitals, but that applies only to Israel. ))

▪️EL AL FLIGHT DIVERTED, PASSENGERS TEMPORARILY TRAPPED.. El Al flight LY971 to Dubai took off as planned, with landing approval from the airport in Dubai. The stormy weather in Dubai created congestion of landings and as a result the flight was diverted to land in Abu Dhabi. Unfortunately, the local airport did not approve of dropping off the passengers, leaving the passengers trapped on the flight until it can refuel and then return to Tel Aviv (as the route from Abu Dhabi to Dubai is not approved for El Al). The plane is expected to take off for Tel Aviv this afternoon.

▪️EXPLOSIONS IN RISHON L’ZIYON - IT’S A DRILL.. Rishon Lezion Municipality: From today until Thursday (April 15-18, 24), from this time until 5:00 p.m., there will be live drills in the western area of ​​the city. There may be explosions.  IT’S A DRILL.

▪️QATAR SAYS.. Qatar Prime Minister: Qatar condemns Israel's policy of collective punishment in the Gaza Strip and the escalation in the West Bank. 

▪️AIR TRAVEL.. Air Canada postpones flights to Israel due to the situation until the end of May. United Airlines has not yet issued an official announcement, but it too will not fly to Israel “for a while”.

[usafphantom2]

Skunk Works’ Latest Stealthy Tanker Concept Revealed

The USAF is firming up requirements for a stealthy tanker to fit with its Next Generation Air Dominance ecosystem, which could change dramatically due to cost.

Joseph Trevithick Posted on Nov 6, 2024 7:35 PM EST

Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works advanced projects division has put forward a new vision for a stealthy pilot-optional aerial refueling tanker.

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works advanced projects division has put forward a new notional vision for a stealthy pilot-optional aerial refueling tanker. This comes as the U.S. Air Force is refining requirements for a future Next Generation Air-Refueling System (NGAS) ‘system of systems’ and amid serious concerns about how the service expects to pay for that and other modernization priorities.

Skunk Works provided a rendering of its latest tanker concept refueling a pair of F-35A Joint Strike Fighters, seen at the top of this story and below, to The War Zone. A different view of this same conceptual design was first shown publicly at the Airlift/Tanker Association’s (ATA) recently concluded annual symposium, as reported by Aviation Week.

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works

The rendering shows an aircraft with swept main wings and horizontal stabilizers with canted outboard vertical stabilizers. The tanker also has stealthy (low-observable) features, including a chine line that wraps around the forward fuselage and continues on either side behind the wing roots and saw-tooth panel lines at various points. Low observable shaping on its wingtip pods is also evident. Where the aircraft’s engine intakes might be situated is not entirely clear, but there is a single large shrouded ‘platypus-like’ exhaust with serrated edges at the upper rear of the fuselage.

The tanker is shown with a pair of refueling booms extending from pod-like sponsons toward the end of each main wing. The boom refueling method is the U.S. Air Force’s preferred means of getting gas into other aircraft in flight. It is possible that the booms on Skunk Works’ new design concept could also be configured to provide fuel via the probe-and-drogue method, which the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps prefer. Probe-and-drogue is also used to refuel Air Force CV-22 tiltrotors, as well as helicopters across the U.S. military. This system is often installed internally on the centerline rear of large tankers, such as the Air Force’s KC-46 and now-retired KC-10, as well as the Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT).

Whether or not the booms might be expected to collapse and/or retract when not in use is unclear. Though such a system could offer aerodynamic and radar signature-reducing benefits, it could also limit the strength of the boom. That, in turn, could present potential operational limitations and safety concerns. The booms on traditional tankers have been known to break under the wrong circumstances as happened just earlier this year in a mishap involving an Air Force KC-46 and an F-15E Strike Eagle combat jet, which you can read more about here. The KC-46, specifically, has been beset by various technical and other issues over the years, including a still unsolved “stiff boom” problem that prevents it from being used operationally to refuel A-10 Warthog ground attack aircraft at all.

A KC-46 refuels an A-10 Warthog ground attack aircraft during a test. USAF

Aviation Week had reported that Skunk Works’ notional design is pilot optional, with no clear provision for a crewed cockpit seen in the renderings available. It is possible that a cockpit could be fitted, as required, in place of a faired-over section on top of the forward fuselage. Another variation of the rendering might also exist showing a cockpit.

A pilot-optional design versus a completely uncrewed version does offer certain benefits. The War Zone previously explored this in detail after the emergence of the stealthy Model 437 Vanguard technology demonstrator jet from Northrop Grumman subsidiary scaled composites earlier this year, writing:

“Unmanned aircraft are still quite restricted as to where and how they can operate. A pilot totally changes this massive bottleneck and means the aircraft can be flown wherever it needs to go, to participate in any developmental flights or training exercises, no matter how complex. It can do this unburdened by typical drone airspace restrictions and the need for chase aircraft that can be required in certain situations. Just ferrying to a different location while manned, so it can access airspace where it can fly as if it were an unmanned aircraft, is a giant advantage.”

“For many tests, having a human onboard can accelerate the speed at which they can be accomplished. At its most basic, initial primary flight testing of the airframe will go far faster with a pilot at the controls. Overall, more risks can be taken when executing autonomous activities with a pilot there to take over and act as a safety backstop if needed.”

Skunk Works has publicly shown a number of other notional advanced crewed tankers in the past, including a boom-equipped one with an almost fighter-esque appearance just earlier this year, the features of which we previously explored in detail. Lockheed Martin has presented variations on a blended-wing-body design concept configured for boom and probe-and-drogue refueling, as well.

A rendering of a stealthy crewed tanker concept that Skunk Works distributed earlier this year. Lockheed Martin Skunk Works

A model of a blend wing body aircraft concept that Lockheed Martin displayed in the late 2010s and said could be adaptable to meet future tanker requirements. Joseph Trevithick A model of a blend wing body aircraft concept that Lockheed martin displayed in the late 2010s and said could be adaptable to meet the requirements of what was then known as KC-Z. Joseph Trevithick

Lockheed Martin art from the late 2010s depicting stealthy blended wing body tankers fueling aircraft using the boom and probe-and-drogue methods. Lockheed Martin

“Our team continues to explore a variety of configurations that deliver mission effectiveness through a connected, affordable, survivable and autonomous next generation tanker capability,” a Skunk Works spokesperson told The War Zone when asked for more details about the newest notional design. “We look forward to providing the U.S. Air Force with the range and endurance needed to fulfill the future of NGAS as it continues to define requirements.”

As already noted, the Air Force currently describes NGAS as a proposed family of systems, which could include a crew or uncrewed stealthy tanker, or a pilot-optional design, or some combination thereof. Boeing has also been pitching a land-based derivative of the MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone that it is developing for the U.S. Navy as a possible option for NGAS.

The complete NGAS ‘system of system’ is also expected to include existing non-stealthy tankers like the KC-46 and the KC-135 with various self-defense and other upgrades. The Air Force has also been actively exploring ‘buddy store’ podded aerial refueling systems that can work with aircraft configured to use the boom, which would also allow other aircraft, including tactical jets, to contribute to this refueling ecosystem.

Uncrewed tankers could be paired with crewed ones in a hub-and-spoke arrangement, with the drones helping ferry fuel to areas closer to the tactical edge while reducing risks to human aircrews. It is worth noting here that Skunk Works’ new rendering shows a notional design that can be refueled in flight itself.

Other tactics, techniques, and procedures could also help reduce the vulnerability of key aerial refueling assets, including linking up with receivers at lower altitudes below an enemy’s radar horizon. This is something the Air Force’s special operations community already has experienced doing, including with a pocket fleet of specialized KC-135RT “receiver-tankers” that can refuel and be refueled in mid-air, which you can read more about here.

A mid-air refueling capable KC-135RT about to link up with a regular KC-135 tanker. USAF

The War Zone has been highlighting the increasingly critical need for stealthy or otherwise more survivable tankers for years now. Expanding and evolving air defense threats, especially in the context of potential high-fight with China have only underscored this reality and are key drivers behind the Air Force’s current NGAS planning.

“Essentially the threat, China again, has reached out with new counter-air systems that could threaten our aircraft, especially tankers, at longer ranges, beyond the ranges which we normally would refuel fighter planes,” Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said in a keynote address at the same ATA symposium where Skunk Works first rolled out its new tanker rendering. “This put our whole tanker acquisition strategy in question. It is still in question, but we are working to resolve the uncertainty as quickly as possible.”

Critical factors in this ongoing debate are range considerations, which are particularly pronounced in the Pacific region, together with the typically short combat radii of America’s current tactical combat jet fleets. This, in turn, puts existing tankers dangerously close to, if not inside anti-access/area denial bubbles near-peer competitors like China have already established and continue to expand.

Stealthy tankers that are not meant to penetrate deep into high-threat airspace, but to persist and operate on the edges of those zones, allowing existing tactical airpower and newer platforms to make it to their targets, could be part of changing that equation. Air Force plans for a new sixth-generation crewed stealth combat jet and Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones as part of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) initiative have been set to have significant impacts in all this, with discussions about their expected ranges (and other capabilities) also tied in with how NGAS evolves. Procurement of a stealth tanker could help trade range and thus the complexity and cost of these new tactical platforms, while also keeping existing ones more relevant. The NGAD combat jet program is currently undergoing a deep review and the outcome of that reassessment will also have direct ramifications for the NGAS and CCA efforts.

In addition, “unfortunately, any new [tanker] design cannot be fielded for several years at best, even if affordable,” Kendall warned while speaking at the ATA gathering, highlighting potential lower cost-near term alternatives, such as upgrading existing tankers.

An artist’s depiction of a blended wing body concept aircraft employed in the tanker role. This art was produced in relation to a program called Speed Agile in the late 2000s-early 2010s. Public Domain An artist’s depiction of a Speed Agile concept aircraft employed in the tanker role. Public Domain

The Air Force’s top civilian also added new and even more dire remarks to a growing chorus of concerns about the affordability of a host of next-generation modernization efforts beyond NGAS that the service has previously described as essential for fighting and winning future high-end conflicts.

“The variable that concerns me most as we go through this analysis and produce a range of alternatives is going to be [the availability of adequate resources.] … to pursue any combination of those new designs,” Kendall said, referring to the NGAD combat jet and CCA drones, as well as NGAS.

You can read more about this brewing budgetary crisis here.

The Air Force is hoping to have firmer understanding of its NGAS requirements before the year is out. At that point, it may be clearer whether or not something like Skunk Works’ newest design concept is what the service is looking for to meet its future aerial refueling needs, if it can afford them.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

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An MH-60 helicopter refuels from a warship in bad weather.