System and method for facilitating aerial refueling

A system for use with a tanker refueling aircraft to assist in guiding a fuel receiver aircraft into a desired spatial envelope, within which a refueling component can be coupled to said receiver aircraft to enable a refueling operation to be carried out on said receiver aircraft, the system comprising:

• an operator station having a display system;
• a processor in communication with said operator station;
• a camera system in communication with said processor for providing a real time image of said receiver aircraft that is displayed on said display system of said operator station;
• a closure rate and distance measuring subsystem in communication with the processor and said operator station, and further being disposed on said re-fueling aircraft for real time monitoring of a position of said receiver aircraft, relative to said refueling aircraft, and a closure rate of said receiver aircraft relative to said refueling aircraft, and generating signals used by said processor in generating required flight adjustments by said receiver aircraft as said receiver aircraft approaches and enters said spatial envelope, said signals being generated without input from a boom operator on the refueling aircraft;
• the processor being in communication with a look-up table for storing information pertinent to a plurality of different types of aircraft that may be involved in a refueling operation performed by said refueling aircraft, and information concerning a specific, predetermined closure rate for each one of said different types of aircraft, and said processor further using a selected one of said closure rates obtained from said look-up table to modify said signals as needed for the receiver aircraft;
• an altimeter in communication with said processor for providing a signal representative of a real time altitude of said refueling aircraft;
• an air speed indicator in communication with said processor for providing an airspeed signal to the refueling aircraft;
• a visual indicator system that is responsive to said signals for generating visually perceptible information that an operator of said receiver aircraft can see to assist said operator in guiding said receiver aircraft towards and into said spatial envelope;
• and
• a manual light driver system also in communication with the processor and adapted to receive an input from a boom operator via the operator station to allow the boom operator to directly drive the visual indicator system in place of the subsystem, so that the boom operator has direct control over the visually perceptible information being generated by the visual indicator system that the operator of the receiver aircraft sees.