Well, give him credit for candor. “There is no mandate for anybody to do anything,” said Dyke Weatherington, a top Pentagon official, in an Aug. 17 briefing on DOD’s new Unmanned Aerial Systems’ roadmap. Despite the lofty goals laid out in the 200-page plus document, no department is currently charged with making sure goals are met.
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…