Safety Analysis of Large Aircraft Formation Based on Aerial Refueling Mission

Soft aerial refueling is considered to be a high-risk flying subject, the height matching among oil-refueling tanker aircraft, refueling device and oil-receiving aircraft is an important guarantee for docking safety. Based on the refueling configuration of a large soft oil-refueling tanker aircraft and two combat-type oil-receiving aircrafts, this paper decomposes the whole process of the oil-receiving aircrafts’ dynamic approach to the tanker aircraft, analyzes the relationship among the refueling units, the docking of the oil plug and the refueling hose, and the complicated flow field of the tanker aircraft, and extracts the influencing factors of the safety of the formation refueling and docking. It also works out the corresponding operation procedures of the geometric compatibility, aerodynamic compatibility and emergency treatment from the perspective of engineering practice; the relevant conclusions provide a reference for the follow-up domestic in-depth study of precision formation flight and related fields of aerial refueling safety.