How does a transport plane fill US M1 tank with diesel fuel?
By Boyko Nikolov on December 22, 2022
WASHINGTON — A US Air Force C-130J Super Hercules military transport plane filled the fueltank of an M1 Abrams tank with diesel and flew back. It sounds incredible, but in fact, this is not new or unusual during US military training. Such actions show that the US is working on a singular compatibility between the ground forces and the air forces of the US military.
In the US military [worldwide too] the term is known as ‘hot pitting’. A transport plane plays slave to an oil station while on the ground refueling ground armored vehicles. It is important to note that the aircraft’s engines as well as the vehicle’s engines are running at this time.
Running engines is not some complicated scientific definition of why they do it, but a purely practical application. I.e. the aircraft as well as the tank may have a problem restarting the engine if they are refueling with the engines off. In this way, technical problems are excluded when the aircraft is re-ignited before take off. The same is done with the tank.
Time matters too. If hot pitting is practiced in a real combat environment, the faster the vehicle is loaded, the faster the transport aircraft will take off. Therefore, working engines not only prevent the occurrence of a technical problem but also shorten the time for carrying out the activity, thereby quickly and on time away from the combat actions on the ground.
https://bulgarianmilitary.com/amp/2022/12/22/how-does-a-transport-plane-fill-us-m1-tank-with-diesel-fuel/
