Boeing announced Thursday that it will pursue technologies that enable multiple small, remotely piloted aircraft to coordinate their activities with each other and with a manned airborne control station. The Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, has awarded the company a three-year, $10 million contract for this work under an initiative called “Foxhunt.” The goal is to allow these RPA to carry out intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance missions more safely and effectively. “The focus of the Foxhunt program is the airborne control of a varied mix of unmanned aerial vehicles,” explained Boeing’s Patrick Stokes. He said this is actually part of AFRL’s “grander vision” of having airborne “motherships” launch, command, and then recover these small RPA.
Air Force Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich assumed command of U.S. European Command on July 1, taking over the key assignment as the U.S. and its allies contend with a resurgent Russia and a grinding war in Ukraine.
