Transoceanic refuel testing

[Nikel]

Four KC-46A “Pegasus” Aerial-Refueling Tankers, going by the callsigns GOLD31.32.41.42, have departed this morning from Pease Air National Guard Base in New Hampshire and are preparing to cross the Atlantic, towing a flight of six EA-18G “Growler” Electronic-Warfare Aircraft from Naval Air Station Oceana to Morón Air Base in Spain, likely with a final destination of the Middle East.

https://x.com/sentdefender/status/2016845305057038663



Tried to recreate it in CMO with a ferry mission, after some trial and error it worked, but not all the times.

With the same settings it may be a complete success or a complete failure with all the Growlers on the water.

I suppose it is a bug, but wanted to ask first in the general forum.



Successful test, the Growlers and the tankers distance is short, all the tankers are used.

S.gif (2.32 MiB) Viewed 1199 times

Failure test, growing distante between both groups, only 1 tanker used. 6 Growlers lost.

F.gif (2.4 MiB) Viewed 1199 times

[tylerblakebrandon]

There is a transatlantic tanker tow in one of the tutorials. I haven't done it in years but the settings/actions directed there might be useful to compare with your test.

[Kushan04]

To do this correctly, you should be using flightplans to ensure the tankers play the role of mother tanker correctly by staying with the Growlers.

[Nikel]

There is a transatlantic tanker tow in one of the tutorials. I haven't done it in years but the settings/actions directed there might be useful to compare with your test.

I have done some of the tutorials, the last yesterday, but not all.

Nearly 4 years playing CMO but I have learned what I know playing directly scenarios and testing current news in the game. Also reading the forum of course.

[Nikel]

To do this correctly, you should be using flightplans to ensure the tankers play the role of mother tanker correctly by staying with the Growlers.

OK, thanks.

But if under the same settings sometimes work and others not, there must be a bug.


Edit: this error is printed in the scenario above and caused a fuse error in the AAR tutorial. Now the problem is to get a save where it is reproducible.

29-01-2026 15:56:37 -- Bv1.09 Beta - Build 1776 -- Object reference not set to an instance of an object. -- Scen : Growlers Test -- DB : -- Exception: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Stack Trace: at Command.Client.Run1Turn()
Call Stack & Error details:
Error at 200658: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

29-01-2026 17:37:41!!!WARNING!!! EXCEPTION FUSE REACHED (x20 exceptions) FOR : -- Bv1.09 Beta - Build 1776 -- Object reference not set to an instance of an object. -- Scen : AAR Tutorial -- DB : -- Exception: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Stack Trace: at Command.Client.Run1Turn()
Call Stack & Error details:
Error at 200658: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

[Mark352]

I tried the scenario with Flight Size set at 6 and had similar mixed results too.

I ran it again with Flight Size set at 2, that split the Growlers into three groups and the tankers into two groups; played that four times. The Growlers all refueled as needed and all aircraft made to Moron each time.

Also tried it with Flight Size set at 1 and all aircraft reached Moron.

IMHO running AAR ops with smaller groups tends to work better. For example, a four-ship will sometimes have one or two aircraft that don't hook-up to a tanker but, continue on with the mission.

[Nikel]

Thanks for the testing Mark

What I do not understand is the variability with the same settings.

Tried several times with 6 and now worked fine all the times.

Tried 1, and it looks like is correct, however in several tries also got mixed results, 0 losses, 1 and even 4, like in the video below. You may only notice it looking at the losses window.

Also the first refueling happens later, this is pretty consistent in the tests. The loss or losses may happen due to this reason in the middle of the Atlantic.

Also near Morón slowed down the simulation to x15 and some Growlers did not land, instead waited for more refueling when all the tankers had already landed, looks like each Growler is trying, falsely, to be refueled by the other.

They land when reach BINGO and the low text appears on the screen. I suppose that in a ferry mission they all should just land as they arrive.

14.gif (1.23 MiB) Viewed 1082 times

x15S3.gif (9.76 MiB) Viewed 1076 times

[Nikel]

Not captured in the video above, sorry. When they are in this state, the text and the distance indicate that they are waiting for a tanker that has already landed. Not sure this is causing some of the losses.

D.png (32.27 KiB) Viewed 1061 times

[Mark352]

Not captured in the video above, sorry. When they are in this state, the text and the distance indicate that they are waiting for a tanker that has already landed. Not sure this is causing some of the losses.

One one occasion with Flight Size at 6 I had Growler that didn't want to land. I neglected to take a look at the sidebar to check it's status. I was able to manually land it though.

I have no proof but, I wonder if increased time compression (single-flame, double-flame) impacts the AI during refueling ops.

[Nikel]

Another Transoceanic refueling test.

Recreation, more or less of the post by DefenceGeek. More or less because the information is not complete. Assumed both B-52s continued.

https://x.com/DefenceGeek/status/2113922150608343224






Airbases geolocated. Flightplan for the 2 B-52, 2 refueling stations and a patrol zone for the exercise.

After some trial and error, it works

B52TO.gif (4.9 MiB) Viewed 436 times

[Kushan04]

Recreation, more or less of the post by DefenceGeek. More or less because the information is not complete. Assumed both B-52s continued.

One returned to Minot with an unspecified mechanical issue.

[Nikel]

Yes, I read that, so the "Assumed both B-52s continued".

Too many tankers for just 1 B-52, so let's do the test with the 2 in perfect conditions.

[Correcaminos]

A good mission for testing transoceanic refuelings is the one called "Invasion" from Desert Storm. It’s fantastic to move a large contingent of units from the USA to the Middle East—either with or without making intermediate stops.

I scheduled several tankers at specific times to support the transit of various aircraft groups, and everything went perfectly; I didn’t have a tanker flying ahead of them, as I believe that restricts the steady flow of aircraft across the ocean.

[Nikel]

Thanks for the recommendation Correcaminos

[Nikel]

Added some realism

With AI assistance to generate the lua code and the audio.


The audio was generated in this site that is free and no registration is required.

https://anyvoicelab.com/voices/walkie-talkie-voice/

Used Audacity to transform the .wav to .mp3

This .mp3 is pasted into this folder of the game.

\Sound\Effects

The event is triggered at random time.

This is the code of the action.

1. Light damage to a random engine of the B-52 Hush12. This will cause the speed is slowed from 450 kts to 420 kts.

2. Plays the mp3 file.

3. Displays the message with the same text of the audio file.

4. Hush 12 RTB.

-- CMO Action Script: STING22 - HUSH 12 Emergency
-- Trigger: 5 hours after takeoff

local targetGUID = "CWVLA7-0HNPIMGM6MKBM"
local sideName = "USA"


-- 1. Randomly damage exactly one HUSH12 engine
local engineGUIDs = {
"CWVLA7-0HNPIMGM6MKCG", -- TF33-P-3 #1
"CWVLA7-0HNPIMGM6MKCH", -- TF33-P-3 #2
"CWVLA7-0HNPIMGM6MKCI", -- TF33-P-3 #3
"CWVLA7-0HNPIMGM6MKCJ", -- TF33-P-3 #4
"CWVLA7-0HNPIMGM6MKCK", -- TF33-P-3 #5
"CWVLA7-0HNPIMGM6MKCL", -- TF33-P-3 #6
"CWVLA7-0HNPIMGM6MKCM", -- TF33-P-3 #7
"CWVLA7-0HNPIMGM6MKCN" -- TF33-P-3 #8
}

local selectedEngine = engineGUIDs[math.random(1, #engineGUIDs)]

local damageResult = ScenEdit_SetUnitDamage({
guid = "CWVLA7-0HNPIMGM6MKBM", -- HUSH12 aircraft GUID
side = "USA",
components = {
{selectedEngine, "Light"}
}
})

print("HUSH12: Light damage applied to engine GUID " .. selectedEngine)

-- 2. Play the emergency audio
local soundOK = ScenEdit_PlaySound("Hush12_Emergency.mp3")
print("HUSH 12 audio result: " .. tostring(soundOK))

-- 3. Display the requested radio transmission
local messageText = [[
<p style="color:orange; font-weight:bold; font-size:14px;"> EMERGENCY TRANSMISSION: HUSH 12</p>
<p><b>[RADIO CHATTER]:</b> "Mainframe, this is HUSH 12. [pause] Declaring an In Flight Emergency. [pause] We are terminating the mission and returning to base immediately due to mechanical problems. [pause] Requesting direct routing. Over."</p>
<p style="color:cyan;"><i>Status: HUSH 11 is maintaining course and continuing the mission solo. HUSH 12 has broken formation and is routing direct to Minot AFB.</i></p>
]]

ScenEdit_SpecialMessage(sideName, messageText)

-- 4. Order HUSH 12 to return to its assigned home base
local result = ScenEdit_SetUnit({
guid = targetGUID,
side = sideName,
rtb = true
})

print("HUSH 12 RTB command result: " .. tostring(result))

B52A.gif (5.22 MiB) Viewed 238 times

[Knightpawn]

Just an idea for someone including me to test:
Set the ferry mission for growlers and set a support mission for the tankers at a single wp that is relative (fixed bearing) to the ferry group 10 nm behind. Adjust ferry speed and support (tankers) speed so that tankers do not fall behind. Set the based of the support group when airborne to ferry destination. And see if it works consistently.

[Mark352]

Added some realism

With AI assistance to generate the lua code and the audio.

That is pretty cool.

[Knightpawn]

Just an idea for someone including me to test:
Set the ferry mission for growlers and set a support mission for the tankers at a single wp that is relative (fixed bearing) to the ferry group 10 nm behind. Adjust ferry speed and support (tankers) speed so that tankers do not fall behind. Set the based of the support group when airborne to ferry destination. And see if it works consistently.

Tried the above and works like a charm. One just needs to manually drag and place the RP of the Support flight ahead and very close to the receiving group of aircraft and make it relative fixed bearing with one of them.

[Nikel]

Tried the above and works like a charm. One just needs to manually drag and place the RP of the Support flight ahead and very close to the receiving group of aircraft and make it relative fixed bearing with one of them.

Can you post the scenario?

[Knightpawn]

Tried the above and works like a charm. One just needs to manually drag and place the RP of the Support flight ahead and very close to the receiving group of aircraft and make it relative fixed bearing with one of them.

Can you post the scenario?

Just remember: when the growlers are getting close to the Support RP manually move it ahead and very close to the receiving group of aircraft and make it relative fixed bearing with one of them