US Air Force seeks AI to assess KC-46 aerial refuelling operations

The US Air Force is looking for an artificial-intelligence system that will automatically analyse aerial refuelling from the cameras of tanker aircraft and give crews detailed feedback after the flight. The requirement is in a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) solicitation, with a submission deadline of November 25, as Defense News reported.

The Air Force wants a system that uses computer vision, machine learning and flight-dynamics analysis to automatically extract performance measurements from each refuelling. It would quantify deviations from the desired flight profile and produce practical guidance for improving crews, reducing human-factors accidents and strengthening readiness. The analysis would take place after each mission, in the crew debrief known in US terminology as the “hot wash.” The Air Force hopes AI-based assessment will reduce the biases of human judgment in one of crews’ most demanding tasks.

The solicitation concerns Boeing’s KC-46 Pegasus, the Air Force’s newest tanker, which has a remote vision system: the operator guides the refuelling boom through cameras and a 3D display. The system met problems in its early years, but the Air Force says most will be solved soon. The new tool would automatically track the tanker, the boom and the receiving aircraft, measuring position, speed, alignment and closure rate.

“Current aerial refuelling training and evaluation procedures rely heavily on instructor observation, pilot self-assessment, manual video review and subjective evaluation,” the solicitation says. The system would give pilots of receiving aircraft graphic overlays, heat maps and event timelines, and could connect to simulators, virtual and augmented reality systems and other training tools.

“The desired goal is an operationally tested capability, ready for application on at least one type of receiving aircraft,” the Air Force notes, seeing the project as a model for future AI assessment systems across the Department of Defense. Aerial refuelling concerns Greece too, where the purchase of KC-390s for the Hellenic Air Force was approved, while the US Air Force plans a fleet of 1,509 fighters by 2035.