Miltech Simulations took to their Facebook page recently to announce their new upcoming product: Aerial Refueling Pro for Microsoft Flight Simulator. According to Miltech Sim, they are the first development team to simulate air-to-air refueling for the platform.
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What is air-to-air refueling?
Air-to-air refueling or aerial refueling is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft, the tanker, to another, the receiver with the aircraft in flight simultaneously. The two primary systems are the probe-and-drogue method (easier to adapt to an existing aircraft) and the flying boom which is faster but requires a dedicated operator.
The procedure allows the receiving aircraft to remain airborne for much longer periods vastly extending its range or loiter time. A series of air refuelings can give an aircraft virtually infinite range limited by factors such as human crew fatigue and engine oil consumption. This procedure can allow aircraft to take off with greater amounts of payloads such weapons, cargo, or personnel with less fuel. The fuel deficit can be made up by topping up once airborne.
About Aeriel Refueling Pro
According to Miltech Sim, Aerial Refueling Pro will have support for both types of refueling methods – probe-and-drogue and flying boom. Furthermore, a handful of refueling tanker aircraft will be modeled including the KC-130, KC-135, the A330MRTT and more. Realistic sounds and operator calls are included in the product. Every aircraft will have refueling times and capacities adjusted to its own type specifications.
Simmers can summon a tanker anytime they want and the refueling aircraft will spawn at a pre-set distance from the user’s airplane and at a set altitude and speed. Refueling can be requested at any time during a sortie or you can perform practice refuelings during any free flight. Moreover, more than 30 third-party aircraft are compatible with Aerial Refueling Pro including but not limited to all Miltech Sim aircraft, DC Designs aircraft, and IndiaFoxtEcho aircraft.
Aerial Refueling Pro will be compatible with the Xbox consoles at launch according to the developers. The refueling tanker aircraft will not be flyable since the product has been developed and simulated from the “receiver” point of view. The tankers will fly autonomously. Currently, the developers are investigating whether the product will be compatible with multiplayer game modes owing to its high complexity and other limitations.
More aircraft addons will be progressively added to the product’s compatability lineup based on community requests and is subject to having modeled refueling probes. A full list of compatible aircraft will be available on release.
Closing Notes
Miltech Simulations’ Aerial Refueling Pro is not yet out for purchase but is anticipated to be released soon. Miltech Sims have a tentative timeline of Summer 2024, so we should see the product land into our hands very soon. For more flight sim-related news, announcements, releases, and more, do check out our other articles on FSNews.
