NASA Dryden's Automated Aerial Refueling (AAR) project is conducting flight tests to develop analytical models of the flowfield of an aerial refueling drogue for a future automated aerial refueling system for unmanned air vehicles. The study is part of a larger Automated Aerial Refueling program led by Air Force Research Laboratory. AAR is using two of Dryden's highly instrumented F/A-18s.

The first aircraft (No. 847) has been modified into a tanker by fitting it with an aerial refueling pod similar to that used by the NAVY on S-3 Vikings and F/A-18E/Fs. The second aircraft (No. 845) is flying as the receiver aircraft during the study to quantify the free-stream hose and drogue dynamics.

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