Refueling from a flying tractor after modifications. An idea for a premium service for the poor [ZDJÊCIA]

The Victory Special Missions company has been working on its mini flying tanker for over a year and in mid-November announced that it has overcome most of the technical problems. Among other things, tests were carried out with the use of the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, which can be seen in the video below.

Flying tanker tractor

The Thrush machine produced by the company of the same name was used for the tests. It is one of the most popular agricultural aircraft in the world. Simple, durable and reliable. But also slow, flying at low altitudes and with limited range. As an airplane, it is mainly intended for spraying fields. However, there is a whole range of companies on the market that try to create something new and original on the basis of a proven platform. Among other things, there were proposals to arm the Thrush machines and to turn them into anti-partisan aircraft, which were proposed, among others, to the US military for the mission in the Middle East. Without success.

Now, Texas-based Victory Special Missions (run by a group of former US military pilots who also have a jet training company) wants to build a flying tanker based on an agricultural aircraft. On her behalf, Thrush modified the latest version of its flagship plane to a special version with a two-person cabin. In collaboration with many other companies, an airborne refueling system was installed, similar to that used in the military. The originators claim that this entailed a number of problems to be solved, mainly aerodynamic (the wing-mounted refueling systems are large and provide adequate resistance) and construction related to the need to place new equipment in the tight fuselage of a small aircraft.

As everything initially worked out, the authors of the project started to promote it. They hope that there will be many people in the world willing for the cheap air refueling option. Standard flying tanks today are large military aircraft such as the A330 MRTT, KC-46 and KC-130. All large, expensive (from several dozen to over one hundred million dollars apiece) and available only to the armed forces. Refueling with helicopters is problematic due to high speed differences and turbulence. The small and slow Thrush does not cause such problems, so it is advertised as a great tool for in-flight refueling, for example, for firefighting, rescue and even military helicopters belonging to poorer countries.

Whether it will really be so, it is too early to say. Combined in-flight and fuel transfer operations are not shown, which is the most difficult stage of air refueling. Much more difficult than the formation flight itself. Additionally, U.S. government regulations place strict restrictions on in-flight refueling technology, so Victory must get hard-to-get approval. Moreover, the flying tanker itself is not enough. The recipient machines must also be properly adapted for in-flight refueling. Meanwhile, such equipment is very rare nowadays, especially on helicopters. It is almost exclusively owned by the special forces machines of several powers, which also have their own flying tanks.