Older models of the F-16 have been made into target drones for a couple of years now. Just recently, however, a QF-16 was reprogrammed to fly autonomously and attack a ground target.
Not only that, but the programmed F-16 responded to a threat on the way into the target and then continued to the target: Read more
The X-47B (previously noted) executed a successful first flight at Edwards AFB, California last week.
The X-47 is a Navy/Northrop technology demonstrator intended to test (and demonstrate) the ability of an unmanned aircraft to land on an aircraft carrier. The aircraft somewhat resembles a miniature B-2, and is ultimately intended to portend the UCAV, or Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle — the ability to conduct autonomous deep strike missions.
The Navy Times has an article and a video of the flight.
The Military Times reports the X-47B, designed to demonstrate the capabilities of an unmanned strike aircraft, is preparing to conduct its first flight. The test aircraft has been conducting taxi tests at Edwards AFB, CA.
Though it is currently two years behind schedule, if it is successful the experimental aircraft would ultimately represent the first time an armed UAV operated off a naval carrier.
It is unclear if the X-47B, or its progeny, are intended to be entirely autonomous or remotely piloted to some degree.
According to a report at the Air Force Times, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working on a project that will enable ground forces to control the weapons systems on an A-10 — or even control the A-10 itself as an “unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV).”
The A-10 could be manned or unmanned; an unmanned plane would loiter autonomously but would be under the control of an A-10 pilot at a ground control station when responding to an attack and for all takeoffs and landings.
The pilot would give “coordinated consent” for the launch of weapons; the JTAC would fire the weapons using a portable computer. With the computer, the JTAC would access the A-10’s sensors, punch in coordinates for its targeting pods and determine the predicted blast radius and effectiveness of the weapons.
While the concept is intriguing, it masks the true improvement to air support Read more