Watch an airplane grab a drone out of the sky while flying

There is footage of a plane grabbing a drone from the sky. And this while they are both flying.

When we think of a drone, we often think of a small helicopter with a camera attached to it. But of course there are many more drones. There’s also now an unmanned drone that can be repaired and refueled without ever having to land again.

Plane grabs drone

Last month, an unmanned X-61 Gremlin drone was successfully picked up by a specially modified Lockheed C-130 freighter while both were still flying. The achievement, of which you can see a video released last Friday by means of DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), promises to dramatically increase the flight range of these types of aircraft. This means that the drones no longer have to land.

We are already familiar with refueling in the air with airplanes. It was introduced in 1935 using hardware similar to modern air-to-air refueling techniques. This changed aviation forever. The range of combat aircraft became much greater and no longer operationally limited by how far an aircraft could fly on a full tank of fuel. This allows them to participate in missions that last long and cover greater distances.

Drone refuel

The weakest link is still humans. He gets tired, has to eat and drink and so his employability is limited. That problem is being addressed. The company has nearly solved the problem of human pilots by using drones that either fly completely autonomously, perform pre-programmed missions based on GPS and other data, or are piloted by pilots who are safe thousands of miles away, sitting in what looks like the ultimate video game flight simulator. Maintenance of a drone is also possible, on the plane! See below the images how a drone is pulled into the plane.