Bell Textron is now building a new vertical takeoff and landing X-plane, the X-76, that can achieve jet-like speeds, aimed at special operations missions and cutting ties to traditional runway-based aircraft.
Technology
Just one year ago, Collaborative Combat Aircraft took center stage as then-Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin designated the two competing jets prototypes as the first unmanned fighters in Air Force history: General Atomics’ YFQ-42A and Anduril Industries’ YFQ-44A. Twelve months later, it’s the autonomy software that’s flying those aircraft garnering the attention. Autonomy software, more than hardware, may prove the most valuable and enduring element of the CCA ...
The Air National Guard will deactivate an air control squadron in Georgia and dozens of similar billets in Iowa, converting the unit and positions to do cyber operations.
The Air Force plans to put Collaborative Combat Aircraft in the hands of Airmen to experiment with the semi-autonomous drones this summer, Gen. Dale R. White said Feb. 25 at AFA’s Warfare Symposium.
The Defense Innovation Unit is gearing up for the first flight of its commercially developed hypersonic testbed as soon as the end of February—part of a larger project to quickly increase the cadence of the Pentagon’s hypersonic flight testing and field advanced, high-speed systems and ...
The Air Force has a new X-plane: The X-68A LongShot from General Atomics is an air-launched drone intended to carry additional air-to-air munitions. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has been developing LongShot since 2021, and announced on Feb. 17 that flight testing could begin “as early as the end of 2026.”
The Air Force’s Kessel Run software factory is launching an effort to create the “next generation” of the service's Air Operations Centers, used to command, control, and coordinate aircraft movements around the globe.
The general public has ChatGPT and it's catching on like wildfire. The Air Force wants to give student pilots "IP GPT," an AI tool built to help them learn the ropes of flying.
The Air Force is working with Collins Aerospace and Shield AI to develop the software Collaborative Combat Aircraft will use to fly missions alongside manned fighters, the service revealed Feb. 12—and drone-maker General Atomics was quick to announce it has already flown its YFQ-42A aircraft with Collins’ system.