Alaska F-22 pilots shot down a target drone with AIM-120 air-to-air missiles during a Combat Archer weapon system evaluation at Tyndall AFB, Fla., late last month. “A lot of the young guys have never seen what it looks like to actually have a missile come off the jet,” said Maj. Russell Badowski, 90th Fighter Wing director of operations from JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. “It’s good for the guys to have that experience [so] the first time [isn’t] in the heat of battle,” he added. A total of 25 Raptor pilots and a dozen F-22s spent two weeks at Tyndall validating every facet of the F-22’s weapon capability—from pilot and jet, to the missiles themselves, according to the April 9 release. Pilots also live-fired the Raptor’s 20mm M-61 cannon, and tested the jet’s internal AIM-9 launch system from March 17- 28. Due to deployments and funding constraints, the evaluation was the unit’s first since 2010.
Concerned about how artificial intelligence might be used to generate target lists or operational plans, lawmakers want to expand limits on autonomous weapons to address mission planning and target selection. The House Armed Services Committee's version of the 2027 National Defense Authorization bill would direct the Pentagon to revise Defense…