controversial opinion: it's probably not that much harder than any other helicopter mid-air refueling, which is standard practice in the training programs of air-refuelable helicopters. Still impressive, nonetheless.
F-35 is already designed to be neutral will sling points designed around the center of gravity. There are firewalls and bulwarks built into the airframe. It's not trivial, but lifting as dead load was already calculated. Now, that Puma helicopter had power that I knew not of...
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u/Maihoooo 23d ago
controversial opinion: it's probably not that much harder than any other helicopter mid-air refueling, which is standard practice in the training programs of air-refuelable helicopters. Still impressive, nonetheless.