“Nasa, Airbus, they all like it,” says Nangia. “Who is going to make the first move is always difficult.”

The 500 tankers that will be delivered to the USAF over the next decades will heavily shape the future of the technology. “Boeing has been in aerial refuelling for the last 65 years and we have built over 2000 tankers,” says Mike Hafer, the global sales and marketing manager of Boeing’s new design, the KC-46. “The US Air Force want a fleet of 500 tankers and our KC-46 will provide a third of that. It can be refuelled itself by another tanker [only a handful of tankers in the current fleet can be] and it can switch between probe-and-drogue and boom. It was also built from day one to be a combat aircraft. It has night vision lighting. It has sophisticated defences to defend itself against missiles and to warn pilots that it has been detected by radar.”

While the second new tanker aircraft, the KC-Y, will probably be similar to the KC-46, the final plane, the KC-Z, is likely to be revolutionary: it will be stealth. “Everyone is building stealth fighters and bombers. It’s no good then if your refuelling aircraft is not stealth,” says James Kemmitt. “It looks like the KZ-Z will be stealthy, operate closer to the front line and be protected. New airframes are expensive, so it will probably use an existing one from the new stealth bomber.”

But further into the future of aerial refuelling it is much harder to predict.

“Will there be a time when we no longer need aerial refuelling?” says Hafer. “Well, the need will be there for at least 30 years. It is like asking someone after World War One what the future is.”

“What will come after this? By the time it comes to replace this new generation of tankers we may not need tankers anymore,” adds Kemmit.

--

Join 700,000+ Future fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Instagram

If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital, Travel and Autos, delivered to your inbox every Friday.

Latest Stories

The hoverboard: From fiction to fact

HyperDrive

HyperDrive

HyperDrive

HyperDrive

HyperDrive

Why is Nasa making a supersonic plane?

HyperDrive

HyperDrive

HyperDrive

Video

HyperDrive

HyperDrive

HyperDrive

HyperDrive

Around the bbc