AUTOMATIC AERIAL REFUELING FOR CCV VIA LOS-ANGLE AND RANGE CONTROL

This paper proposes a design method of a flight control system for automatic refueling based on the line-of-sight (LOS) angle control in conjunction with range and airspeed control of the receiver aircraft. A model following control method is employed for design of the controllers. This control method is applied to a control configured vehicle (CCV) aircraft. The guidance and control performance has been investigated through three-dimensional computer simulation in the presence of turbulences and/or wake vortex of the tanker. The results are compared with those for the conventional aircraft that is the original aircraft of the CCV.