Aerial Refuelling Systems Patents: Who Leads, Where Gaps Are 2026
- 73.6% concentration. The top five assignees hold 345 of 469 records in scope — a field where the boom-and-receptacle mechanics are already claimed densely by a small set of aerospace primes.
- Filing kept growing through the recent complete years. 2021 to 2024 filings rose 21 to 26, +24% over that span, even after the 2019 peak of 46 records a year.
- Software is creeping into a mechanical field. Image data processing (9.6%), UAV classes (8.5%) and control of non-electric variables (8.3%) now sit alongside the core B64D aircraft-equipment class, signalling autonomy and vision-guided docking as the newer claim territory.
Filing growth compares 2021 (21 records) with 2024 (26) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 469 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Aerial refuelling systems patents cover the mechanical, control and sensing subsystems that let one aircraft transfer fuel to another in flight: telescoping booms, receptacle latches, hose drum units, breakaway couplings, boom nozzles and the closure-rate logic that governs a safe connection. This dataset spans 469 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from a search string that isolates boom and probe-and-drogue hardware together with the control terms that distinguish a working refuelling system from a generic aerospace fastener or fluid-coupling patent.
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one or two years in any trend understate real filing activity; treat 2025 and 2026 as still filling in rather than as a slowdown.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 469 records: how filing volume has moved year on year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings ran from 19 in 2017 to a peak of 46 in 2019, then continued at a high level; the 2021-2024 span shows +24% growth (21 to 26 records), consistent with a field still under active claim-building rather than one in decline. 2025 and 2026 figures are partial due to publication lag and should not be read as a drop-off.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
B64D (aircraft equipment) covers 86.1% of the 469 records and remains the structural core of the field. Smaller but notable shares sit in G06T image processing (9.6%), B64U unmanned aerial vehicles (8.5%) and G05D non-electric variable control (8.3%), pointing to autonomy, vision-guided docking and drone-tanker interfaces as the areas layering on top of the mechanical baseline. Because a record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares sum to more than 100% and should be read individually against the 469-record total, not against each other.
Shares are the percentage of the 469 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Aerial Refuelling Systems with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about aerial refuelling systems and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
US8439311B2 — Aerial refueling boom and boom pivot (Boeing, 2013-05-14)
An aerial refueling boom may include a refueling boom assembly and a pivot assembly for attaching the aerial refueling boom to a tanker aircraft. The refueling boom assembly may include a main boom section and a hollow telescoping boom section, adapted to move between a retracted position within the main boom section and an extended position for in-flight refueling. The pivot assembly attaches the boom assembly to the tanker aircraft via an aircraft attachment plate and a refueling boom attachment plate.Abstract reproduced from the filing; claim scope should be verified against the full claim set before relying on it for design-around work.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5904729A | Automated director light system for aerial refueling operations | 311 |
| 2 | US4025193A | Apparatus suitable for use in orienting aircraft in-flight for refueling or other purposes | 200 |
| 3 | US4150803A | Two axes controller | 171 |
| 4 | US20030136874A1 | Method for safer mid-air refueling | 134 |
| 5 | US3917196A | Apparatus suitable for use in orienting aircraft flight for refueling or other purposes | 129 |
| 6 | US4072283A | Aerial refueling boom articulation | 116 |
| 7 | US4129270A | Air refueling boom pivot gimbal arrangements | 104 |
| 8 | US5785276A | Actuated roll axis aerial refueling boom | 94 |
| 9 | US4586683A | Rolling aerial refueling boom | 93 |
| 10 | US6752357B2 | Distance measuring using passive visual means | 87 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and favour older filings; they are a signal of foundational status, not of current commercial priority.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers say about filing strategy
Three patterns stand out once the ranking, trend and IPC data are read together.
The field is close to closed at the top
345 of 469 records sit with five assignees, and the top 10 combined reach 84.9% (398 records). A newcomer is not filing into open ground on core boom mechanics; the workable space is in adjacent control, sensing and autonomy claims rather than the telescoping boom and pivot assembly itself.
Activity is building, not fading
Filings rose from 21 in 2021 to 26 in 2024, continuing an upward trend from the 2019 peak of 46 records in a single year. 2025-2026 figures look lower only because of the roughly 18-month publication lag, not because filing has actually slowed.
A mechanical core with a growing software layer
Aircraft equipment claims dominate, but image data processing, UAV-specific classes and non-electric control variables each appear in a meaningful minority of records. That combination points to autonomous and drone-tanker refuelling as the direction newer filings are pushing, layered on top of long-settled boom hardware.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to aerial refuelling systems, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gate sits
The ranking is dominated by a handful of aerospace and defence primes, with a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants behind them.
A single leader holds the largest share
The top-ranked assignee holds 197 of 469 records in scope, roughly four times the fifth-place count of 22. That gap is unusually wide even for a defence-adjacent field, and it means most core boom and pivot claim space has already been staked by one organisation's filing history.
A steep drop-off after the leaders
Fifth place holds 22 records and tenth place holds 8, a fast taper that separates a small group of established aerospace and defence names from a long tail of entities with a handful of filings each. New entrants competing on volume are competing against a very short list.
Recent-year activity has gone quiet at the top
Several of the highest-ranked assignees, including the field leader, show zero filings in the latest year with year-on-year declines. Given the publication lag, this likely reflects filings still working through the pipeline rather than leaders exiting the field, but it is worth tracking in the next data refresh.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| The Boeing Company | 0 | -100% |
| Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd | 0 | — |
| BRULIC LTD | 0 | — |
| Airbus Defence and Space SAU (Spain) | 0 | — |
| EADS CONSTRS AERONAUTICAS | 0 | — |
| PITMAN JAMES | 0 | — |
| BAE Systems plc | 0 | — |
| COBHAM MISSION SYST WIMBORNE LTD | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to two practical next steps for a team deciding where to file or where to watch.
Check the white space before drafting claims
The under-claimed branches above sit outside the dense B64D core; a first claim on vision-guided alignment or drone-tanker interfaces has more room than another telescoping boom mechanism.
Explore white space in EurekaTrack leader momentum through the next data refresh
Several top assignees show zero recent-year filings, which the publication lag may explain; confirming that with a later cut of the same search string will settle whether the leaders are still active.
Set up monitoring in EurekaCommon questions about aerial refuelling systems patents
One assignee leads the ranked field with 197 of 469 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-ranked assignee at 22 records. The top five assignees combined hold 73.6% of all records, and the top ten hold 84.9%. This is a field where a small number of aerospace and defence primes, largely tied to long-running boom-refuelling tanker programmes, account for most of the documented filing activity.
Yes, filing volume grew from 21 records in 2021 to 26 in 2024, a 24% increase over that span, following an earlier peak of 46 records in 2019. Figures for 2025 and 2026 look lower only because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so those years are still filling in rather than showing a genuine drop in activity. The underlying trend across the complete years is one of sustained, not declining, filing.
The core mechanical hardware, telescoping booms, pivot assemblies and receptacle latches, sits under IPC class B64D and covers 86.1% of the 469 records, making that ground heavily claimed. Smaller shares appear in image processing, UAV-specific classes and non-electric control variables, each under 10% of records, suggesting autonomous docking, vision-guided alignment and drone-tanker interfaces carry comparatively thinner coverage relative to the mechanical baseline.
US8439311B2, assigned to Boeing, covers an aerial refueling boom with a main boom section, a hollow telescoping boom section that moves between retracted and extended positions, and a pivot assembly with an aircraft attachment plate and a boom attachment plate. Anyone designing a telescoping boom-and-pivot mechanism for a tanker aircraft needs to review this claim set closely, since it sits within the same 197-record leader's broader filing position. It does not, however, cover control software, sensing or drone-tanker interface work, which sit in separate, less concentrated IPC classes.
The most-cited records in this dataset, including filings from the 1970s and a 1999 automated director light system patent cited 311 times, have simply had more time to accumulate citations within the searched corpus. This is a function of age, not of current commercial relevance, and newer filings in software-heavy classes like image processing or UAV control have not had the same window to be cited. Citation count should be read as a marker of historical influence rather than a ranking of what matters today.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.