First of all, let's popularize the concept of two types of in-flight refueling:
Tube refueling
Hard tube refueling, as the name suggests, means that the fuel pipe stretched out by the fuel dispenser is hard. In fact, hard tube refueling is to put a hard tube on the outside of the refueling hose, and this refueling pipe is put down from the tanker by the operator of the air tanker when refueling in the air, and the tanker only needs to fly to the designated position and concentrate on maintaining the flight speed and attitude.
At this time, the rigid refueling hose will be aligned with the refueling port of the refueling machine under the control of the refueling machine operator, and refueling will be carried out after insertion. The biggest advantage of hard tube refueling is that the refueling speed is fast, the refueling volume can reach more than 6000 liters per minute, and the hard refueling pipe is less affected by air flow disturbance, which is more stable than hose refueling. The KC-135 tanker of the U.S. military uses hard-tube refueling technology.
Hose filling
The hose refueling method means that the refueling hose released by the air tanker is a hose with a stabilizer. During the aerial refueling operation, the oil receiving machine needs to go close to the fuel filling pipe independently, and then insert the fuel filler port at the tail of the fuel filling pipe through the probe that comes with the oil receiving machine.
The refueling speed of the hose is about 1500 liters per minute, because the refueling hose is more susceptible to the disturbance of the air flow in the air, and will keep swinging, which requires the pilot of the refueling machine to be highly concentrated throughout the whole process, and pay attention to the speed and flight attitude between the landline and the refueling machine and the refueling pipe at any time. China's Y-20 and H-6, Russia's Il-78 tanker, and the U.S. military's KC-130 are all typical hose refueling.
In general, the hose refueling or hard pipe refueling is compared: the hard pipe refueling is less affected by the air flow, and the refueling speed is faster, but generally only a single oil receiver can be refueled at a time, and the hard pipe operator on the refueling machine has higher requirements;Although the refueling rate of hose refueling is lower than that of hard pipe refueling, it can generally refuel two refueling aircraft in the air at the same time, and the operation requirements for personnel on the refueling aircraft are lower than those of hard pipe refueling.
In some special scenarios, such as aircraft carriers or outfitting attack ships, most carrier-based aircraft choose hose refueling due to the limited mode of operation.
What are your thoughts on this?
Is it better to be hard or soft?