The Pentagon is aiming to develop a new artificial intelligence-guided aircraft and plans to offer two contracts that are being competed for by several private companies.
The Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) project is part of a $6 billion program to add at least 1,000 new unmanned aircraft to the U.S. Air Force. These drones deploy alongside human-piloted jets and act as escorts with full weapons capabilities, providing cover for the jets and also serving as reconnaissance and communications hubs. The Wall Street Journal reported.
Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Atomics, and Anduril Industries are all taking on this challenge. General Atomics has supplied the Reaper and Predator drones that the United States has deployed in numerous operations in the Middle East, and Anduril was created in 2017 by inventor Palmer Lackey, the entrepreneur who founded Oculus VR. The company is a newcomer to the field.
Fox News Digital reached out to several companies seeking CCA contracts, but either did not respond or declined to comment.
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Boeing is the only company Flaunting its entrant known as the Ghost Bat. They are 20 to 30 feet long and can fly at subsonic speeds and cover more than 2,000 nautical miles.
The plane is designed to work with existing military aircraft and “complement and extend airborne missions,” according to a summary on Boeing’s website. Other features of the plane include “tactical early warning” and other intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, but the manufacturer says the highlight is its “low-cost design.”
A Boeing MQ-28 Ghostbat fighter jet-like unmanned aircraft on display at the Australian International Air Show in Avalon, Australia, February 28, 2023. (Reuters/Jamie Freed)
Cost reduction is one of the AI factors that appealed to the Department of Defense in pursuing this project.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said in August 2023 that deployed AI-powered self-driving vehicles will provide the U.S. military with “smaller, smarter, cheaper, and more numerous” consumables, and that “the transition of U.S. military innovation is too slow.” ” will be useful for a fundamental review of the system.
As Anduril, It displayed at least one AI-powered drone known as the Roadrunner, a jet-powered combat drone that uses AI navigation. In an interview with Wired, Anduril CSO Christian Brous praised it as a “very low cost, very high volume, increasingly sophisticated and advanced air threat.”
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Anduril has not disclosed whether the Road Runner will serve as an entry into the CCA pitch, but it does suggest a possibility of what the company could produce: a reusable vertical with twin turbojet engines and a “modular payload configuration.” It shows the possibility of a takeoff and landing module. and the ability to wander. The company also advertises “high-performance interceptor missile variants” on its website.
The variant, called Roadrunner-M, “can rapidly launch, identify, intercept, and destroy a variety of air threats, or safely recover and relaunch at near-zero cost.”
Palmer Lackey, founder of Oculus and Anduril Industries, speaks at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJ Tech Live conference on October 16, 2023 in Laguna Beach, California. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
General Atomics also showcased its Avenger unmanned aircraft system a year ago, paired with a “digital twin” aircraft to “autonomously conduct live, virtual, constructive, multi-object joint combat missions.” and actively promoted its CCA “ecosystem.”
The company revealed it was conducting tests as early as late 2022, potentially demonstrating the advantages it may have outside of its already healthy relationship with the Department of Defense.
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“This flight demonstrates the company’s commitment to maturing the CCA ecosystem for autonomous collaborative platform (ACP) UAS using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML),” General Atomics said. I am writing about this test. “This provides new and innovative tools for next-generation military platforms to make decisions under dynamic and uncertain real-world conditions.”
“The concepts demonstrated in these flights set the standard for operationally relevant mission system capabilities on the CCA platform,” said Michael Atwood, senior director of advanced programs at General Atomics. .
A model of General Atomics’ MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle was displayed at the Farnborough International Air Show 2022 in Farnborough, England, on July 19, 2022. (John Keeble/Getty Images)
“The combination of high-performance airborne computing, sensor fusion, human-machine teaming, and AI pilots making decisions at just the right speed is how GA-ASI can help operationalize CCA autonomy.” It shows they are maturing quickly,” Atwood added.
lockheed martin has demonstrated its ability to integrate AI into its aircraft, updating its VISTA X-62A trainer aircraft with an AI operating system and operating the aircraft for 17 hours in early 2023.
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The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School uses the VISTA X-62A at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and faculty are already praising its potential for rapidly evolving aviation tactics and combat capabilities.
“VISTA will enable us to develop and test cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies for new unmanned vehicles,” said M. Christopher Cotting, director of research at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, in a press release on Lockheed Martin’s website. This will allow us to do this in parallel with the design process.”
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“This approach, combined with intensive testing of new vehicle systems during production, will rapidly mature the autonomy of unmanned platforms and enable them to provide tactically relevant capabilities to warfighters.”
Northrop Grumman has not given any indication or indication of what potential AI CCA units it could submit.
The Department of Defense did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment as of press time.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
