In a “State of the Force” address Sept. 30, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced plans for a new four-star command to lead the military-wide push to field autonomous systems, one of several initiatives meant to further his sweeping transformation of the Pentagon.
autonomy
For the past four years, the idea of autonomous drone warfare like Collaborative Combat Aircraft has been discussed as a future concept, rather than near-term reality. But now that promised vision appears imminent, with the Air Force promising at least 1,000 such drones by 2032.
The Air Force’s autonomous test fighter known as the X-62 carried out multiple artificial intelligence-controlled intercepts of a crewed jet in a series of experiments earlier this year, the service said Aug. 4.
An F-35 Joint Strike Fighter teamed up with a General Atomics MQ-20 Avenger drone in a recent test to refine the Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft concept, the company said in a May 27 statement.
The Air Force’s nascent Collaborative Combat Aircraft program is beating former Secretary Frank Kendall’s goal of producing drone wingmen at about one-third the cost of an F-35, an official leading the effort said March 25.
Anduril Industries flew its YFQ-44A Collaborative Combat Aircraft with two different mission software systems during the same flight Feb. 24, an Air Force official revealed at AFA’s Warfare Symposium.
Northrop Grumman is offering a revamped Model 437 aircraft as a “playground” testbed for developers of autonomy flight software, hoping to answer industry demand for more and faster testing of their technology.
The Pentagon needs a Digital Command and a Digital Warfare Corps, along with other changes, to take advantage of critical new technologies, according to a think tank founded by former Google CEO and Chairman Eric Schmidt.
Fresh off its biggest test yet of an autonomous cargo plane, the Air Force is going bolder: deploying and operating another such aircraft for an entire year.
The Air Force on June 5 stood up a new unit to figure out how to use drone wingmen, known as "Collaborative Combat Aircraft," in future air wars.
Government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton is looking to Formula One car racing to gain a combat edge for autonomous military vehicles.
A program meant to pave the way for autonomous combat flying technologies took a step forward April 1 with the arrival of the last fighter jet to complete the VENOM test fleet.
