China's unmanned drones refuel autonomously under harsh conditions

Chinese researchers at Northwestern Polytechnical University have successfully demonstrated autonomous aerial refueling between two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) under challenging conditions, marking a significant advancement in long-endurance drone operations. The test involved one UAV acting as a tanker and the other as a receiver, which autonomously located, tracked, and docked with the tanker despite visual obstacles such as glare and partial occlusion. This system relied on a machine vision approach using a dual-camera near-infrared setup and deep learning algorithms to detect and track the tanker’s refueling drogue with over 99% accuracy and centimeter-level positioning precision, enabling docking without human intervention during high-speed formation flight. This breakthrough has strategic implications, particularly for China’s heavy-duty Jiu Tian drone platform, which boasts a 7,000-kilometer range and the capacity to carry over 200 loitering munitions. While the drone’s unrefueled range does not reach the continental United States, autonomous aerial refueling