DARPA is interested in improving collaborative autonomy so that groups of remotely piloted aircraft could work together under a single human’s supervision, announced the agency. Under the Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment, or CODE, program, DARPA seeks to develop algorithms and software that would extend RPA capabilities to improve US forces’ ability to conduct operations in denied or contested airspace, while lowering operation costs. “Just as wolves hunt in coordinated packs with minimal communication, multiple CODE-enabled unmanned aircraft would collaborate to find, track, identify, and engage targets, all under the command of a single human mission supervisor,” said Jean-Charles Ledé, DARPA program manager, in the agency’s Jan. 21 release. CODE also aims to decrease the reliance of RPA on high-bandwidth communication and potentially expand the spectrum of missions that RPA accomplish, he noted. DARPA plans to host meetings with interested parties in the first week of March in the Arlington, Va., area to discuss the CODE open architecture and technologies that could be part of a demonstration in the second and third phases of this initiative.
US Space Command Should Always Be Led by a Guardian
Sept. 12, 2026
General Stephen Whiting took command of U.S. Space Command in January 2024, and if customary three-year tenures hold, his tour would end in January 2027. The question now before the President and Senate is who should follow him? Whoever they choose, it has to be a Guardian—and so should every successor…
