Lmst

Le MQ-28 Ghost Bat australien frappe sa première cible aérienne avec un missile AMRAAM, un nouveau drone combat.
https://www.opex360.com/MQ28
#Space #Science #Innovation #AerospaceEngineering #UnmannedAircraft #MQ28 #GhostBat #DroneWarfare

Les projets de « Combat Collaborative Aircraft » se multiplient. Les avionneurs sont engagés dans un grand écart conceptuel et seuls les plus agiles survivront. Avec les #YFQ44 « Fury » d’#Anduril, #GhostBat de #Boeing, #XQ58A de #Kratos ou encore #YFQ42A de #GeneralAtomics, les USA ont pris une avance considérable. La Turquie et la Chine aussi. L’Europe est à la traine. #CCA

https://www.aerobuzz.fr/depose-minute/darwin-le-retour/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Drone Wingmen, or #CCAs (Collaborative combat aircraft)
are autonomous drones intended to fly alongside F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and the future Next Generation Air Dominance fighter, and perform missions for them such as striking enemy targets, conducting surveillance, or jamming enemy signals.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall wants CCAs to cost a “fraction” of an F-35, which can run from $80 million to $100 million.

Andrew Hunter, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, said at Defense One’s State of Defense Business forum that he recently approved the purchase of more CCAs for the service’s experimental operations unit.

That unit, which the Air Force is now standing up, is in charge of developing tactics and procedures for how CCAs would be used in a real-world operational scenario.

The Air Force in April awarded contracts to General Atomics and #Anduril Industries to keep designing, building and testing their own versions of the first batch of CCAs, and subsequent, more advanced iterations of CCAs are planned to follow.

But before CCAs can fully be integrated into squadrons, the Air Force has to develop concepts of operations for them, or exactly how they would be controlled and operate in battle.

The experimental operations unit is working with Australia’s military
— which has been working on a similar program with #Boeing’s #GhostBat for several years
— and other international partners, Hunter said.

As the experimental operations unit sets those tactics, Hunter said, it’s important to have actual CCAs to experiment with.

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2024/11/15/air-force-buying-more-drone-wingmen-to-develop-operational-tactics/