posted on Sep, 26 2017 @ 08:06 AM
I'm pretty sure the intent is to have the B-21 refueled a long distance away from the adversary where it cannot shoot down or even detect the tanker,
though I'm not sure if this would work if it's a really long strike mission such as flying into central asia. Perhaps using Google maps, known
military installations and estimated B-21 range we could figure this out (no wonder the B-21 is classified!). Perhaps the tanker could also blend into
normal airliner traffic, but this has its own issues.
With that said, I think a stealthy way of extending the range of tactical fighters or smaller aircraft on special missions has a very clear need.
Pretty much all tactical fighters have a range which is too short for the west pacific. I'm thinking of something more like a bigger land-based MQ-25
Stingray, but then there's the question of how do you actually make the refueling system stealthy, which is probably harder if none of your aircraft
are capable of accepting drogue and hose equipment (though the F-35A can be modified to accept this).
Not sure about the boom scraping issue, but the HF issue sounds like it could be closed out after further analysis and testing, potentially with no
modifications or only with small modifications to ensure that EMCON modes work correctly.
iirc, the problem with drogue and hose is that transfer speed is limited. Okay if it's a tactical fighter, not okay if it's a strategic
bomber.
edit on 26/9/17 by C0bzz because: (no reason given)
edit on 26/9/17 by C0bzz because: (no reason given)