HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

A loyal wingman is a proposed type of
unmanned combat air vehicle An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, colloquially shortened as drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance ...
(UCAV) which incorporates
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
(AI) and is capable of collaborating with the next generation of manned combat aircraft, including
sixth-generation fighter A sixth-generation fighter is a conceptualized class of jet fighter aircraft design more advanced than the fifth-generation jet fighters that are currently in service and development. Several countries have announced the development of a sixth- ...
s and bombers such as the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider. Also unlike the conventional UCAV, the loyal wingman is expected to be capable of surviving on the battlefield but to be significantly lower-cost than a manned aircraft with similar capabilities. In the US, the concept is known as the
collaborative combat aircraft In artificial intelligence (AI), collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) are robotic ''loyal wingmen'' such as the Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat, Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie, General Dynamics X-62 VISTA, or the entrants in the Skyborg Vanguard program. The uncrewed ...
(CCA).


Characteristics

The loyal wingman is a military drone with an onboard AI control system and capability to carry and deliver a significant military weapons load. The AI system is envisaged as being significantly lighter and lower-cost than a human pilot with their associated life support systems, but to offer comparable capability in flying the aircraft and in mission execution. Some concepts are based on a standardised aircraft deployed in two variants; one as a
sixth-generation fighter A sixth-generation fighter is a conceptualized class of jet fighter aircraft design more advanced than the fifth-generation jet fighters that are currently in service and development. Several countries have announced the development of a sixth- ...
with a human pilot and/or battle commander in the cockpit, and the other as a loyal wingman with an AI system substituted in the same location. BAE Systems envisage the Tempest to be capable of operating in either configuration. Another concept is to develop a shorter-range, and hence smaller and cheaper, wingman to be carried by the manned parent aircraft and air-launched when needed. The drone in turn carries its own munitions. This reduces the overall cost while maintaining protection for the manned aircraft on the battlefield.


Role

The principal application is to elevate the role of human pilots to
mission command Mission command, also referred to as mission-type tactics, is a style of military command, derived from the Prussian-pioneered mission-type tactics doctrine, which combines centralized intent with decentralized execution subsidiarity and promotes f ...
ers, leaving AIs as "loyal
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 operate under their tactical control as high-skill operators of relatively 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.
Loyal wingmen can perform other missions as well, as "a sensor, as a shooter, as a weapons carrier, as a cost reducer".


Capabilities

A loyal wingman is expected to cost significantly less than a manned fighter, and will typically be considered vulnerable to attrition. It would have sufficient intelligence and onboard defence systems to survive on the battlefield. The
United States Secretary of the Air Force The secretary of the Air Force, sometimes referred to as the secretary of the Department of the Air Force, (SecAF, or SAF/OS) is the head of the Department of the Air Force and the service secretary for the United States Air Force and United S ...
Frank Kendall Frank Kendall III (born January 26, 1949) is an American engineer, lawyer and executive who is the 26th and current United States Secretary of the Air Force. He has served in several senior positions in the U.S. Department of Defense. A West Poi ...
has described them as remotely controlled versions of
targeting pod Targeting pods (TGP) are target designation tools used by attack aircraft for identifying targets and guiding precision-guided munition (PGM) such as laser-guided bombs to those targets. The first targeting pods were developed in conjunction with ...
s,
electronic warfare Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponen ...
pods or weapons carriers to provide additional sensors and munitions; to balance affordability and capability,


Development history

The concept of the loyal wingman arose in the early 2000s and, since then, countries such as Australia, China, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US have been researching and developing the necessary design criteria and technologies.


Australia

Boeing Australia is leading development of the MQ-28 Ghost Bat loyal wingman for the RAAF, with
BAE Systems Australia BAE Systems Australia, a subsidiary of BAE Systems plc, is one of the largest defence contractors in Australia. It was formed by the merger of British Aerospace Australia and GEC-Marconi Systems and expanded by the acquisitions of Armor Holdings ...
providing much of the avionics. The MQ-28 was first flown in 2021 and since then, at least 8 aircraft have been built.


China

China has been studying the loyal wingman concept since at least 2019 and has shown off some concept airframes. However, although China already manufactures drones and has well-developed swarming technology, the planned level of autonomy or even AI for these systems are not known.


Germany

European aerospace manufacturer
Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
has proposed the Airbus wingman which is a loyal wingman aircraft. The aircraft would be an
unmanned combat aerial vehicle An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, colloquially shortened as drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance ...
(UCAV) which would accompany a Eurofighter Typhoon or other combat aircraft as a
force multiplier In military science, force multiplication or a force multiplier is a factor or a combination of factors that gives personnel or weapons (or other hardware) the ability to accomplish greater feats than without it. The expected size increase requ ...
.


India

The
HAL CATS Warrior CATS Warrior is a part of the HAL Combat Air Teaming System program. Its work is believed to have started in early 2019 under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the state owned HAL and an Indian private startup Newspace R&D. HAL has don ...
is an AI-enabled wingman drone under development by
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is an Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Bangalore, India. Established on 23 December 1940, HAL is one of the oldest and largest aerospace and defence manufacturers in the worl ...
(HAL) for the proposed Combat Air Teaming System (CATS).


Japan

Japan announced a development programme for a loyal wingman drone in 2021, issuing the first round of funding in 2022. The drone is intended to be carried for deployment by a proposed F-X fighter, also under development.


Russia

Russian projects for wingman-class drones are thought to include the
Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik The Sukhoi S-70 ''Okhotnik-B'' (russian: Сухой С-70 "Охотник", , Hunter), also referred to as ''Hunter-B'', is a Russian stealth heavy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) being developed by Sukhoi and Russian Aircraft Corporatio ...
and the Kronshtadt Grom. However, although Russia already manufactured drones, the planned level of autonomy or even AI for these systems are not known.


South Korea

In addition to the production of the new generation fighter, KF-21, South Korea plans to develop several types of UCAVs as wingmen to team up with the manned fighter.


UK

The RAF in the UK has been developing the Loyal Wingman concept since 2015, with the Spirit Mosquito technology demonstrator flying in 2020. Programme funding was cancelled in June 2022 because the Ministry of Defence felt that it was better spent on less ambitious advances.


US

Collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) is the official USAF designation for an AI combat drone, and is broadly equivalent to the loyal wingman. The USAF
Next Generation Air Dominance The Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) is a United States Air Force (USAF) sixth-generation air superiority initiative with a goal of fielding a "family of systems" that is to succeed the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. A manned fighter aircra ...
(NGAD) program was initiated in 2014. It includes the development of CCA.John Tirpa
(7 Mar 2023) Next gen numbers: Air Force plans ‘nominal’ buy of 200 NGAD fighters, 1,000 drone wingmen
"One way to think of ollaborative combat aircraftis as remotely controlled versions of the targeting pods, electronic warfare pods or weapons now carried under the wings of our crewed aircraft" —
Frank Kendall Frank Kendall III (born January 26, 1949) is an American engineer, lawyer and executive who is the 26th and current United States Secretary of the Air Force. He has served in several senior positions in the U.S. Department of Defense. A West Poi ...
Up to five autonomous CCAs could operate with a manned fighter. The Skyborg programme, going back at least to 2019, is developing the systems to operate wingman drones alongside advanced manned fighters. Of four contenders, the most public is the
Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie The Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie is an experimental stealthy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) designed and built by Kratos Defense & Security Solutions for the United States Air Force Low Cost Attritable Strike Demonstrator (LCASD) program, under ...
. The Air Force Research Laboratory (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 Adv ...
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 Calspan Corporation is a science and technology company founded in 1943 as part of the Research Laboratory of the Curtiss-Wright Airplane Division at Buffalo, New York. Calspan consists of four primary operating units: Flight Research, Transportati ...
. 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 batt ...
predicted that AI programs that fly fighter aircraft will overmatch 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".
Two alternative autonomous AI systems have been installed in a
General Dynamics X-62 VISTA The General Dynamics X-62 VISTA ("Variable Stability In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft") is an experimental aircraft, derived from the F-16D Fighting Falcon, which was modified as a joint venture between General Dynamics and Calspan for use by t ...
at the Air Force Test Pilot School. The two systems flew the aircraft in turn, on 9 December 2022. 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. The General Atomics Longshot is intended to be carried for deployment by the manned aircraft, and is air-launched when needed. This allows a shorter range for the drone, while maintaining advanced protection for the manned aircraft. DARPA adopted the General Dynamics design for its Longshot programme in 2022.Michael Marro
(6 Mar 2023) DARPA moves General Atomics' 'LongShot' drone pitch to phase 2
"DARPA envisions a plane launching a drone, which in turn can launch its own weapons".
In 2022
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 ...
identified five key elements for the proactive development of autonomous CCA, remote pilots of
UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
s and pilots 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>(September 2022) Five Imperatives for Developing Collaborative Combat Aircraft for Teaming Operations
MITCHELL INSTITUTE Policy Paper 38 Sep 2022. 40 pages,
#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. A typical CCA is estimated to cost between one-half and one-quarter as much as an $80 million F-35. US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall is aiming for an initial fleet of 1,000 CCAs.


List of loyal wingman aircraft

Several loyal wingman aircraft are or have been under development. Examples include: * Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat - development prototype flying *
General Dynamics X-62 VISTA The General Dynamics X-62 VISTA ("Variable Stability In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft") is an experimental aircraft, derived from the F-16D Fighting Falcon, which was modified as a joint venture between General Dynamics and Calspan for use by t ...
- system development aircraft *
HAL CATS Warrior CATS Warrior is a part of the HAL Combat Air Teaming System program. Its work is believed to have started in early 2019 under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the state owned HAL and an Indian private startup Newspace R&D. HAL has don ...
- under development *
Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie The Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie is an experimental stealthy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) designed and built by Kratos Defense & Security Solutions for the United States Air Force Low Cost Attritable Strike Demonstrator (LCASD) program, under ...
- development prototype flying * Kronshtadt Grom ("Thunder") - under development * Spirit Mosquito - program cancelled *
Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik The Sukhoi S-70 ''Okhotnik-B'' (russian: Сухой С-70 "Охотник", , Hunter), also referred to as ''Hunter-B'', is a Russian stealth heavy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) being developed by Sukhoi and Russian Aircraft Corporatio ...
- proposed development with upgraded avionics * Airbus Wingman - proposed development


See also

* Index of aviation articles


References

{{Reflist Unmanned military aircraft Robotics Command and control