USAF Launches Search for 'Skyborg' Drones

摘要

The service began soliciting aircraft in May and plans to award contracts to the winning designs by the end of the summer, Advanced Aircraft Program Executive Officer Col. Dale White told Air Force Magazine. Chosen drones will then head into experiments to show off what they can do. White did not say how many airframes the service plans to buy. Officials envision Skyborg as an unmanned aircraft that would take direction from fighter jets and its own artificial intelligence in combat. Skyborg could fly ahead for reconnaissance or carry out airstrikes without endangering the manned aircraft, and it could ferry around a box that allows planes with different communications systems to talk to each other.