Hose-and-drogue in-flight refueling system

Abstract

An in-flight hose-and-drogue refueling system composed of: a refueling hose-and-drogue unit extending from a refueling aircraft for engaging with a refueling probe of an aircraft to be refueled and; a drogue steering assembly for steering the drogue, the drogue steering assembly including a plurality of individually controllable, compressed air driven thrusters, and a compressed air supply line extending along the hose for supplying compressed air to the thrusters, wherein the hose and the supply line form a unit having a circular outline.

1 . A refueling probe installable in an aircraft for engaging a drogue to enable the aircraft to be refueled in flight, said probe comprising a light source and electrical wires or optical fibers for supplying lighting energy to said light source, wherein said probe comprises a tube having a wall and said electrical wires or optical fibers are embedded in said wall.  
   
   
       2 . The probe of  claim 1  wherein said tube is made of a composite material.  
   
   
       3 . A refueling hose-and-drogue unit for airborne refueling of an aircraft, said unit comprising a hose, a drogue carried by, and rotatable relative to, said hose, and a plurality of thrusters attached to, and nonrotatable relative to, said hose, said thrusters being operable to control the position of said drogue in flight.  
   
   
       4 . An in-flight hose-and-drogue refueling system comprising: 
 a housing configured to be carried by an aircraft and including a cowl mounted to pivot downwardly from a closed position; and    a refueling hose-and-drogue unit stored in said housing and deployable out of said housing when said cowl is pivoted downwardly,    wherein said cowl is disposed below said unit when said cowl is in the closed position and said cowl is pivoted downwardly when a refueling operation is to be performed in order to provide aerodynamic stabilization during deployment of said unit.