RE: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,179695,00.html

This is the future or tomorrow’s operations being tested today. It will be interesting to watch it cycle through the stages of this (safe) operation. Developing the emergency procedures will also be challenging. Emergency disconnect or break-away will be very interesting to see how communications will take place between the boomer and the receiver (drone) in lightening speed to assure the safety of the tanker crew and the wellbeing of the drone. How will a brute force disconnect take place will also have to be developed. Will the drone allow itself to be towed if necessary? Through testing is just beginning and is why air refueling is as safe as it is today done hundreds of times by highly trained and skilled crews. When you take the human element out of the picture you open the door for a entirely new set of issues to be overcome…safely.

First to go was the navigator, then the flight engineer, then the loadmaster (is going but not gone yet) then the boomer followed by the pilot (drones!!). Totally crewless flight is coming a lot faster than we think... are YOU ready? Hello ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot who will be watching over your flight today along with the FAA Flight Controller. We will be sitting in 75 degree Palmdale CA as you wing your way to Chiago where it is snowing and blowing and hovering about 10 degrees below zero. Please sit back and enjoy your pilotless flight today and know that we are always watching over you.

For the past six years I knew that increasing the utility of unmanned aerial assets through the use of aerial refueling would only be time that such assets fixed-wing or rotor-wing unmanned vehicle systems would need get this ability. My name is Alan Sinsel I have worked on the problem of aerial refueling and recharging of class III and IV unmanned aerial systems at airspeeds below 100 knots. It will be the use of class III and IV unmanned aircraft assets which will be the work horses of the unmanned aviation world. Our ground troops who when they are outside of the wire will relay the most on such unmanned systems to supply the needed ISR and hunter/killer ability to stay safe and defeat our enemies.
I'm a small aircraft pilot and I took on what it would take to solve for what I call ultra slow aerial refueling (USAR). I did my own test flying to find what would be needed too place a single-engine, turbo-prop, off-the-shelf aircraft in front of small unmanned aircraft and refuel them at airspeeds between 200 knots through 60 knots depending on aircraft platform used. I have been flying small aircraft for over thirty years I know something about flying low, slow and in turbulence. Boeing has a great system but it still will cost over thirty million dollars to get the job done. I have a technology that will cost under seven million dollars and be able to operate on land or sea. This USAR technology will only need 1800 feet or less of landing area to operate from on land. Our War Fighters and military leaders must have options in the deployment of force multipliers. Yes the twin engine aircraft that Boeing and Alenia have developed can have a place as a tool for our UAV force.
What is needed right now is a forward based, low cost, off-the-shelf force multiplier that not only this country can use but that smaller nation allies can use at cost that can sustain the 24/7 usage that is demanded now from military and civilian leaders from unmanned assets. Hard and soft power applications will forever be changed by unmanned aerial vehicle systems such systems now must have a mix of aerial refueling/recharging tankers that can maintain the ISR we all need to get the job done. I live in Portland Oregon I'm in the phone book and I would like some help getting my technology in the air. I have tried several times to contact and meet with General Atomic's on this issue as yet not one reply back.