Dynamic Modeling and Active Stabilization of a Strake-Fin Hose–Drogue Aerial Refueling System

Aerial refueling with hose–drogue systems provides operational flexibility but is highly susceptible to disturbances from tanker wakes, receiver bow waves, and atmospheric turbulence, which induce drogue oscillations and reduce docking success. To address these challenges, this study develops a dynamic model and introduces a strake-fin-based actively stabilized drogue. The hose is represented as a chain of rigid segments with aerodynamic drag estimated using Hoerner’s empirical correlations, while the drogue’s aerodynamic characteristics are obtained from CFD simulations. An efficient neighbor-cell search algorithm is implemented to map the hose–drogue configuration onto the CFD flow field, and atmospheric turbulence is modeled using the Dryden model. The drogue is equipped with two pairs of strake-type control fins, whose relative deflections are regulated by a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) to generate corrective aerodynamic forces. Simulation results under tanker wake, bow-wave, and severe turbulence conditions show that the proposed system effectively suppresses drogue oscillations, reducing displacement amplitudes by over 80% and maintaining positional deviations within 0.1 m. These results confirm the robustness of the modeling framework and demonstrate the potential of the strake-fin-based active stabilization strategy to ensure safe and reliable aerial refueling operations.