Northwestern Polytechnical University
China’s Jiu Tian autonomous tanker
China has successfully tested autonomous aerial refueling maneuvers between drones, which double the range of its drones, allowing them to reach Washington, New York or Miami. “It’s a sword pointed at the warmongers’ throats,” says a Chinese scientist.
Northwest Polytechnic University (NPU), in China, carried out what could be the first autonomous refueling flightin which two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) were used in refueling maneuvers. One of the UAVs served as a tank, and the other received the fuel.
In formation flights, at high speed, the receiving plane located, followed and docked autonomously to the tanker in extreme conditions, using a highly robust vision-based navigation system.
According to , the feat is particularly relevant due to the institutional link between the university and the Chinese advanced drone program Jiu Tiana large-capacity unmanned platform capable of carrying more than 200 munitions.
With a range of 7,000 km, the Jiu Tian cannot reach the territory continental US from bases in China.
But when combined with in-flight refueling, your effective attack radius may doubleputting major US East Coast cities, from Washington to New York and Miami, at your fingertips.
The most recent advance, presented in a publication on December 9th in the magazine Systems Engineering and Eletronicsrepresents a decisive leap by China towards fully autonomous operations and ultra-extended autonomy, says the SCMP.
The team of researchers, led by Bu Shuhuifrom the NPU School of Aeronautics, designed a system of near infrared vision (NIR) with two cameras mounted on the receiving drone, which is paired with eight NIR LEDs installed on the fuel tank of the tanker drone.
Even in bright sunlightin high-speed flight and with partial visual field blocking, its AI system, with a deep learning algorithm, achieved a detection success rate greater than 99%with positioning accuracy down to centimeters.
“The two aircraft maintained formation flight. The receiving aircraft used the visual system to detect the tanker drone and calculate the relative pose, and successfully completed the docking between the refueling probe and the tanker”, Bu and colleagues write in the article.
Most U.S. military simulations have assumed that Chinese long-range strike options limited to ballistic missiles or bombers operating from fixed bases.
One Jiu Tian drone rubeach capable of launching hundreds of drones and AI-guided tactical missiles along the US coastline, could saturate air defenses existing.
The US is developing similar capabilitieslike the tank drone MQ-25 Stingray of the Navy, but the focus has been mainly on supporting manned aircraft.
The NPU, which contributed nuclear technologies, for the Chinese military’s latest weapons, including hypersonic weaponry, is subject to US sanctions and, according to the Chinese Government, is a main target of US government cyberattacks.
On November 22nd, He Zhibina Chinese space scientist known as the father of the Hainan Space Launch Center, stated at a meeting in Guangzhou that the Jiu Tian drone was “a sword pointed at the throat warmongers, especially those from the United States.”
