Defense News reports, “Whatever the next chapter of U.S. air power will look like, there will be drones — and lots of them — accompanying manned fighters into battle. But as Air Force leaders translated their vision into an acquisition strategy, a novel meeting of the minds — at least by Defense Department standards — may have saved the service from a major miscalculation: A new cohort of so-called collaborative combat aircraft, as originally envisioned, wouldn’t be able to fly far enough to be effective in combat, which would have been a serious problem in the Pacific theater.”
Full Story (Defense News)
Tag: Drone Wingman
Draft Documents Indicate Pentagon Considering Big Changes to ICBM, Drone Wingmen programs in FY25
Breaking Defense reports, “Following the passage of a year-long continuing resolution (CR) in March, the Pentagon has considered big changes for marquee Air Force programs like the service’s new nuclear ICBM and futuristic drone wingmen, according to draft budgetary documents. The draft spending plan, which was previously reported by other outlets and obtained by Breaking Defense, includes a proposal for the Air Force to slash over a billion dollars in planned spending for the troubled Sentinel ICBM and funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into the Collaborative Combat Aircraft drone program.”
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USAF’s First Autonomous Combat Jets Might Carry Extra Munitions for Crewed Fighters
Flight Global reports, “The first batch of autonomous ‘Collaborative Combat Aircraft’ being developed for the US Air Force will primarily be tasked with carrying extra precision munitions aloft, with other combat functions coming in subsequent designs.”
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US Air Force Planning Independent Squadrons of Collaborative Combat Aircraft
Defense News reports, “The U.S. Air Force plans to create independent squadrons for its future fleet of collaborative combat aircraft instead of adding the drone wingmen to already-existing squadrons of manned fighters. Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, the nominee to be the service’s next chief of staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing Thursday the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard also may stand up their own CCA squadrons, along with the active duty.”
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Anduril’s YFQ-44A Drone Wingman Prototype Makes First Flight
Breaking Defense reports, “Defense tech startup Anduril’s prototype bid for the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program achieved its first flight, the service announced [Friday]. The YFQ-44A drone flew ‘at a California test location’ at an undisclosed time today, the Air Force said in a press release. The drone is the second to reach the flight testing stage for the Air Force’s drone wingman program, following General Atomics’s YFQ-42A that took off for the first time in August.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)