Low Airspeed Air-to-Air Refueling System (LASARS)

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are attractive to many military users, with their potential capability to enable new missions and reduce costs.The US Air Force (USAF) alone has procured more than 500 surveillance drones weighing more than 2000 pounds each since 1995.Their ability to remain on-station for long periods of time makes them ideal reconnaissance platforms. Since aircrew fatigue is not an issue, the only limit on mission endurance is the amount of fuel the aircraft can carry.Mission endurance can be anywhere from 10 to >30 hours.With the addition of an aerial refueling system, UAS time on-station can be extended to several days at a time.Ideally, the tanker aircraft supplying the reconnaissance UAS would fly near to the ISR orbit location to minimize sensor time off station, but this would require the tanker aircraft to operate in the same hostile airspace as the UAS.DZYNE Technologies solution to this problem is the Low Airspeed Air-to-Air Refueling System (LASARS) program. The solution is a modular, cost-effective system of systems for autonomous air-to-air refueling of Group 4/5 unmanned systems at airspeeds of less than 130 knots.