Collaborative Combat Aircraft on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
In artificial intelligence (AI), collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) are robotic ''loyal wingmen'' such as the 
MITCHELL INSTITUTE Policy Paper 38 Sep 2022. 40 pages, and human pilots who are flying separately in manned aircraft (also called ''crewed-uncrewed teaming'', or ''manned-unmanned teaming'')
"The 5 Keys to Achieving Highly Collaborative Combat Aircraft" #Create concepts that will maximize the strengths of both CCA and piloted aircraft working as a team. #Include operators in CCA development to ensure they understand how they will perform in the battlespace. #Warfighters must be able to depend on CCA autonomy. #Warfighters must have assured control over CCA in highly dynamic operations. #Human workloads must be manageable. or who are piloting UAVs.
In 2020,
(09 September 2020) AI To Fly In Dogfight Tests By 2024: SecDef
For "human-machine teaming".
''Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency—Our Research''
**Col. Daniel Javorsek, USAF:
(8 May 2019) AlphaDogfight
"This shifts the human role from single platform operator to mission commander". One possible application is to elevate the role of human pilots to mission commanders, leaving AIs as
(20 August 2020) AI Slays Top F-16 Pilot In DARPA Dogfight Simulation
The AI systems are eventually to serve as wingmen for human commanders. *Eric Tegle
(20 August 2020) AI Just Won A Series Of Simulated Dogfights Against A Human F-16 Pilot, 5-0. What Does That Mean?
*DARPAt
(20 August 2020) AlphaDogfight Trials Final Event
5 hour live stream.Mallory Shelbourn
(3 Jan 2023) Navy Buys 2 'Loyal Wingman' XQ-58A Valkyrie Drones for $15.5M
The NGAD is anticipated to use loyal wingmen (CCAs). Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall envisions these uncrewed aircraft as performing parts of a larger mission; CCA development can be conducted in parallel with NGAD development, which has to take into account a larger set of requirements. CCAs can perform other missions as well, as "a sensor, as a shooter, as a weapons carrier, as a cost reducer". Up to five autonomous CCAs would operate with an NGAD.
DARPA Initiates Design of LongShot Unmanned Air Vehicle
On 9 December 2022 the Air Force Test Pilot School tested its General Dynamics X-62 VISTA with 2 different AI packages.Valerie Insinn
(4 Jan 2023) Inside the special F-16 the Air Force is using to test out AI
DARPA’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE), AFRL's Autonomous Air Combat Operations (AACO) By 16 December 2022 the X-62 Vista had flown eight sorties using ACE, and six sorties using AACO, at a rate of two sorties per day. Jonathan Gitli
(14 Feb 2023) The US Air Force successfully tested this AI-controlled jet fighter
This "allowed us to rapidly learn lessons and iterate at a much faster rate than with other air vehicles".—Lt. Col. Ryan "Hal" Hefron
Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat
The Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat, previously known as the Boeing Airpower Teaming System (ATS) and the Loyal Wingman project, is a stealth, multirole, unmanned aerial vehicle in development by Boeing Australia for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAA ...
, Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie, General Dynamics X-62 VISTA, or the entrants in the Skyborg
The Skyborg project is a United States Air Force Vanguard program developing unmanned combat aerial vehicles intended to accompany a manned fighter aircraft. , contracts have been awarded to Boeing, General Atomics, Kratos Unmanned Aerial System ...
Vanguard program. The uncrewed CCAs represent a class of aircraft which are meant to collaborate with the crewed Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) aircraft.
Heather Penney
Heather Renee Penney is a defense policy expert at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies in Arlington, Virginia. She is best known for her role as a USAF lieutenant who was one of two F-16 pilots who flew their unarmed planes in an attemp ...
has advocated for proactive development of autonomous loyal wingmen (that is, collaborative combat aircraft),Heather Penney
Heather Renee Penney is a defense policy expert at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies in Arlington, Virginia. She is best known for her role as a USAF lieutenant who was one of two F-16 pilots who flew their unarmed planes in an attemp ...
br>(September 2022) Five Imperatives for Developing Collaborative Combat Aircraft for Teaming Operations MITCHELL INSTITUTE Policy Paper 38 Sep 2022. 40 pages, and human pilots who are flying separately in manned aircraft (also called ''crewed-uncrewed teaming'', or ''manned-unmanned teaming'')
Heather Penney
Heather Renee Penney is a defense policy expert at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies in Arlington, Virginia. She is best known for her role as a USAF lieutenant who was one of two F-16 pilots who flew their unarmed planes in an attemp ...
br>(2 Dec 2022) Crewed-Uncrewed Teaming"The 5 Keys to Achieving Highly Collaborative Combat Aircraft" #Create concepts that will maximize the strengths of both CCA and piloted aircraft working as a team. #Include operators in CCA development to ensure they understand how they will perform in the battlespace. #Warfighters must be able to depend on CCA autonomy. #Warfighters must have assured control over CCA in highly dynamic operations. #Human workloads must be manageable. or who are piloting UAVs.
In 2020, DARPA AlphaDogfight
The DARPA AlphaDogfight was a 2019–2020 DARPA program that pitted computers using F-16 flight simulators against one another. The computers were managed by eight teams of humans, which competed in a single-round elimination for the right to bat ...
established that AI programs that fly fighter aircraft will overmatch
Overmatch is a concept in modern military thinking which prizes having overwhelming advantages over an adversary to a more significant margin than in traditional warfare. It is related to military superiority. Overmatch uses a military force's "ca ...
human pilots.Sydney J. Freedberg, Jr(09 September 2020) AI To Fly In Dogfight Tests By 2024: SecDef
For "human-machine teaming".
''Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency—Our Research''
**Col. Daniel Javorsek, USAF:
(8 May 2019) AlphaDogfight
"This shifts the human role from single platform operator to mission commander". One possible application is to elevate the role of human pilots to mission commanders, leaving AIs as
wingmen
A wingman (or wingmate) is a pilot or UAV who supports another pilot in a potentially dangerous flying environment. ''Wingman'' was originally the plane flying beside and slightly behind the lead plane in an aircraft formation.
According to th ...
to perform as high-skill operators of low-cost robotic craft.Theresa Hitchen(20 August 2020) AI Slays Top F-16 Pilot In DARPA Dogfight Simulation
The AI systems are eventually to serve as wingmen for human commanders. *Eric Tegle
(20 August 2020) AI Just Won A Series Of Simulated Dogfights Against A Human F-16 Pilot, 5-0. What Does That Mean?
*DARPAt
(20 August 2020) AlphaDogfight Trials Final Event
5 hour live stream.Mallory Shelbourn
(3 Jan 2023) Navy Buys 2 'Loyal Wingman' XQ-58A Valkyrie Drones for $15.5M
The NGAD is anticipated to use loyal wingmen (CCAs). Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall envisions these uncrewed aircraft as performing parts of a larger mission; CCA development can be conducted in parallel with NGAD development, which has to take into account a larger set of requirements. CCAs can perform other missions as well, as "a sensor, as a shooter, as a weapons carrier, as a cost reducer". Up to five autonomous CCAs would operate with an NGAD.
Air Force Research Laboratory
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research organization operated by the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of aerospace warfighting technologies, p ...
(AFRL) will test their Skyborg manned-unmanned programs such as Autonomous Air Combat Operations (AACO), and DARPA
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.
Originally known as the Ad ...
will test its Air Combat Evolution (ACE) artificial intelligence program. The System for Autonomous Control of Simulation (SACS) software for human interface is being developed by Calspan.
DARPA's Longshot is an air-launched UAV meant to extend the range of a mission and reduce the risk to manned aircraft, which could then remain at standoff range; if Longshot were to use Air Combat Evolution (ACE), missiles launched from that Longshot could more effectively select targets.DARPA (8 Feb 2021DARPA Initiates Design of LongShot Unmanned Air Vehicle
On 9 December 2022 the Air Force Test Pilot School tested its General Dynamics X-62 VISTA with 2 different AI packages.Valerie Insinn
(4 Jan 2023) Inside the special F-16 the Air Force is using to test out AI
DARPA’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE), AFRL's Autonomous Air Combat Operations (AACO) By 16 December 2022 the X-62 Vista had flown eight sorties using ACE, and six sorties using AACO, at a rate of two sorties per day. Jonathan Gitli
(14 Feb 2023) The US Air Force successfully tested this AI-controlled jet fighter
This "allowed us to rapidly learn lessons and iterate at a much faster rate than with other air vehicles".—Lt. Col. Ryan "Hal" Hefron
Notes and references
{{Reflist Robotics Attrition warfare Command and control