Method and apparatus for planning air refueling for aircraft

A method for planning air refueling for a plurality of aircraft so as to optimize a parameter for the aircraft, the method comprising:

• receiving first data for a plurality of receiver aircraft to form received receiver data;
• receiving second data for at least two tanker aircraft to form received tanker data;
• generating a refueling plan for use between a starting point and a destination point for the plurality of receiver aircraft using the received receiver data and the received tanker data in which fuel usage is optimized for the plurality of receiver aircraft and the at least two tanker aircraft, wherein generating the refueling plan comprises:
• identifying which aircraft of the plurality of receiver aircraft will be in a formation for refueling;
• identifying a route for each receiver aircraft in the formation and a route for each tanker aircraft;
• and
• generating the refueling plan using the route for each receiver aircraft in the formation and the route for each tanker aircraft of the at least two tanker aircraft;
• and
• generating a split time between a first tanker aircraft and a second tanker aircraft.

A method for planning air refueling, the method comprising:

• receiving, at an air refueling plug-in application, first data for a plurality of receiver aircraft to form received receiver data;
• receiving, at the air refueling plug-in application, second data for a set of tanker aircraft, the set of tanker aircraft comprising more than one tanker aircraft, to form received tanker data;
• generating a refueling plan for use between a starting point and a destination point for the plurality of receiver aircraft using the received receiver data and the received tanker data in which fuel efficiency is optimized for a set of aircraft as a group within the plurality of the receiver aircraft and the set of tanker aircraft, wherein generating the refueling plan comprises:
• identifying which aircraft of the plurality of receiver aircraft will be in a formation for refueling;
• identifying a route for each receiver aircraft in the formation and a route for each tanker aircraft of the set of tanker aircraft, wherein the route for each receiver aircraft of a set of receiver aircraft may be different;
• generating the refueling plan using the route for each receiver aircraft in the formation and the route for each tanker aircraft of the set of tanker aircraft;
• and
• generating a split time between a first tanker aircraft and a second tanker aircraft in the set of tanker aircraft with the first tanker aircraft used for refueling before the split time and the second tanker aircraft used for refueling after the split time.