Air systems
Right: F-35s and other jets can benefit from the supplementary use of unmanned aircraft.
Previous page: The Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat takes to the skies in a test flight over Woomera, Australia.
their paper “Understanding the Promise of Skyborg and Low-Cost Attritable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”, they are “a new class of force multipliers that could help the air force balance its requirements and modestly grow its force capacity”. Or, as Kendall – with the F-35 front of mind – put it, “If we only do very expensive aircraft for the air force, we’re not going to be able to afford an air force anywhere near the size that we either need or have today. These have got to be cheaper platforms.”
That is exactly what they are. The USAF calls them attritable/reusable (A/R) UCAVs, reflecting the fact that they are cheap enough to risk losing (an XQ-58 Valkyrie could cost as little as $2–3m, versus $78m for the cheapest F-35A) and that they can complete their missions without destroying themselves – unlike, for example, cruise missiles or loitering munitions drones. “That opens up a whole range of tactics that we currently would not contemplate because we’d be sacrificing manned aircraft,” Kendall added.
“A/R UAVs could help create a future force that is more heterogeneous, less predictable and more capable of distributed operations.”
Mark Gunzinger and Lukas Autenried, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies
$2-3m
The cost of an unmanned XQ-58
Valkyrie aircraft. Kratos
42
A/R UCAVs are also designed to be modular, meaning they can swap out weapons and sensors to perform different offensive, defensive, support and surveillance roles as required. As then RAAF head of air force capability Air Vice-Marshal Cath Roberts said after two Australian MQ-28 Ghost Bat drones flew in formation in November 2021, “This opens up significant capability agility for the air force, particularly with features such as the reconfigurable nose. We’re heavily engaged in the payload development and the element of surprise that it gives us in the battle space. You never really know what’s in the nose.”
That’s a big change from the development model that brought about multirole platforms like the F-35, or any of the mission-specific aircraft that preceded it. Efficient as it might be to rationalise supply chains around fewer types of standard aircraft, Gunzinger and Autenried argue that increasingly homogeneous allied air forces are easier for adversaries to predict and counter. With the US’s combat air force now smaller than it ever has been, that contributes to a reduced ability “to pose multiple simultaneous operational challenges to an enemy”. In that context, “A/R UAVs could help create a future force that is more heterogeneous, less predictable and more capable of distributed operations.”
Increased capability
At the same time, loyal wingman technology plays directly into the advantages offered by manned aircraft like F-35s. Gunzinger and Autenried highlight that fifth-generation fighters are already force multipliers “in the sense that they can share their operational picture of the battlespace with other air, ground and sea weapon systems and perform as battle managers in contested areas”. As loyal wingmen do not have to stay within shouting distance, a single battle manager can use them to extend that operational picture over a much greater range. For example, A/R UCAVs equipped with various sensors can be spread out across a wide area while transmitting data to F-35s with the tools on board to fuse their readings. From there, pilots can command their robotic wingmen to track or target specific threats, either using the data to engage enemies from a safe distance or passing it on to other shooters that can also stay out of range without impacting accuracy. Gunzinger and Autenried are clear about how important this could be for the US military, which has long relied on its ability to dominate the skies. “Extending the sensor and weapons reach of counterair aircraft in this manner would help ensure
Defence & Security Systems International /
www.defence-and-security.com
Michael Fitzsimmons/
Shutterstock.com
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