Patent ID: 7887010

Claim:
An airborne refueling system, comprising: a fuel delivery device having a deployable portion configured to be deployed overboard an aircraft during aerial refueling, the deployable portion including: at least a portion of a flexible fuel line; a drogue including a plurality of vanes arranged circumferentially around a major axis, the vanes having a radially outwardly facing surface and a generally tangentially facing surface, wherein the radially outwardly facing surface is larger than the generally tangentially facing surface, and a canopy coupled to the vanes, the drogue being coupled to the flexible fuel line, wherein the plurality of vanes comprises a plurality of first and second vanes; a plurality of actuators wherein individual actuators are operatively coupled to a correspond first cane and a corresponding second vane and with the actuators operable to change a relative circumferential distance between the corresponding first vane and the corresponding second vane; at least one sensor positioned to detect at least one of a load on and a position of the fuel delivery device and produce a corresponding signal; and a computer-based system carried by the deployable portion and operatively coupled to the actuators, the computer-based system including instructions to direct the operation of the actuators in response to the signal in a feedback manner.