As the Air Force eyes hundreds if not thousands of unmanned Collaborative Combat Aircraft to supplement its manned fighter fleet, startup Anduril offered a rare glimpse at the kind of autonomy software that could undergird CCAs—one human providing relatively simple directions for multiple “robotic wingmen” ...
autonomous aircraft
Northrop Grumman said it put a pilot on its new Model 437—ostensibly an autonomous craft—to speed testing, as it won’t need segregated airspace usually required for uninhabited aircraft. A new video of the first flight emphasizes the speed at which the aircraft was fabricated and ...
The Air Force will likely award a contract or contracts for the first increment of Collaborative Combat Aircraft in late September or early October, sources familiar with the program said. It’s not yet been decided if the Air Force will carry one or both of ...
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall caught a ride in the front seat of a modified, artificial intelligence-piloted F-16 on May 2, a high-profile show of confidence in the service’s autonomous technologies—and another key step in maturing that technology for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.
While none of the major aircraft contractors were selected to develop the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, all three say they are seeking further autonomous aircraft work for the Navy, foreign partners, or in the classified arena, and maybe future versions of the CCA itself.
The CCA is envisioned as an uncrewed, relatively low-observable aircraft that can escort or coordinate with crewed aircraft, performing missions such as electronic warfare, defense suppression, as a communications node or as a flying extra magazine of weapons.
The Air Force’s primary platform for air attack against the most heavily defended targets will be the sixth-generation B-21 Raider, featuring a degree of stealth “orders of magnitude” stealthier than the B-2A Spirit it will replace.
The Air Force is exploring the potential of autonomous cargo craft, awarding a contract to tech company Reliable Robotics to study the feasibility of automating large, multi-engine airlifters. Reliable Robotics announced the contract Feb. 8, after previously working with the Air Force under three phases of ...
With the unveiling of the B-21 Raider, speculation and interest in the new bomber have reached a fever pitch, with a first flight still to come in mid-2023. But the B-21 won’t just be about the large, flying wing aircraft that rolled out in Palmdale, ...
A new aircraft will soon be in the skies for testing above Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The Air Force has transferred two XQ-58 Valkyrie drones to the 40th Flight Test Squadron at Eglin, the 96th Test Wing announced—a key development as the service moves ...
Teams of autonomous vehicles collaborating with a crewed airplane, in which each aircraft in the formation performs a unique mission on its own, is far more effective than the so-called “loyal wingman” approach, in which a piloted aircraft pairs with just one similarly-equipped, autonomous multimission ...
As the Air Force moves forward with plans to utilize unmanned aircraft systems in new and increasingly powerful ways, the U.S. is still stuck in how much it can share those capabilities with allies and partners—creating a dangerous vacuum that China has moved to fill, ...
