The Air Force Office of Scientific Research is working with Brigham Young University to develop the means for unmanned aerial vehicles to coordinate with one another, according to BYU professor Tim McLain. “We’ve developed and demonstrated cooperative timing methods that would enable simultaneous strike-type execution by UAVs,” said McLain. The research team has been able to coordinate simultaneous arrival by three UAVs, seeing them arrive within fractions of a second over a target. Other experiments have surmounted problems such as inconsistent information and changing perimeters. (Read more here.)
General Atomics, the maker of one of the Air Force’s first Collaborative Combat Aircraft, has ambitious plans for its family of semi-autonomous drones beyond the FQ-42, including a flying-wing aircraft capable of carrying out both reconnaissance and strike missions. Meanwhile, the Air Force Research Laboratory announced a new program to…