A Self-Adaptive Refueling Drogue

Current technology aerial refueling drogues cannot accommodate the desired range of Navy/Marine refueling missions in a single design configuration. A novel drogue design approach that incorporates aeroelastic structural elements, capable of accommodating a wide range of flight speeds and aircraft types, is proposed for further analysis and development. The concept expands recent Navy work on a fabric-free drogue design, through the incorporation of speed-dependent flexural components, while also significantly reducing the number of parts from current drogue designs. Speed adjustment of the drogue is completely passive, as demonstrated in pre-proposal testing activities. Use of self-adaptive structural modification capabilities promises to significantly extend the drogue's operational envelope to cover all aircraft of interest in the Navy/Marine inventory.