China’s PLA reveals AI-assisted aerial refuelling tech days after US military tanker crash

2026.03.19 01:20 Chinese fighter jets soar over Tiananmen Square in Beijing on September 3, 2025, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Photo: Eugene Lee 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. A US Air Force KC-135 “Stratotanker” flies over northern Alaska on March 4. Photo: Handout 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. “The ‘smart task assignment’ programme recommends scientifically sound and highly efficient solutions, enabling the maximisation of aerial refuelling effectiveness,” the PLA Daily quoted Yu He, an Air Force officer involved in the programme, as saying. In the past, the pairing process was like a “blind choice”, Yu said. Tankers would simply loiter passively in the air, while fighters tended to select the nearest available tanker. This often created operational bottlenecks, with some tankers becoming overloaded as others nearby remained idle. “The old random refuelling-receiving model had become

原文链接: 南华早报