The People’s Liberation Army has announced a new AI-assisted task dispatch system for China’s aerial refuelling tankers, days after a US military tanker crashed in the Middle East.
According to the official PLA Daily, the Chinese air force has streamlined its aerial refuelling operations with a smart artificial intelligence (AI) system to improve efficiency and safety.
The report on Monday came just days after a US Air Force Boeing KC-135 “Stratotanker” aerial refuelling tanker crashed in western Iraq during America’s Operation Epic Fury against Iran.
According to the PLA Daily report, the “aerial refuelling area management system” – developed by technicians from the PLA Air Force – was first introduced during training at the end of last year.
The system monitors real-time airspace situations and employs built-in algorithms to automatically calculate real-time fuel levels for all participating aircraft within the area.
Based on the fuel levels, airspace capacity and flight duration of each aircraft, the system generates the most optimised pairing plans between tankers and fighters, issuing recommendations to pilots.
