The Air Force is betting a large part of its future air war on more than 1,000 autonomous drones, and later this spring its top civilian leader plans to board one of these artificial intelligence-powered warplanes. keeps and plans to take it on the plane.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told senators Tuesday during a hearing on the service’s 2025 budget that he will step into the cockpit of one of the F-16s that the service has converted to fly drones so that it can fly itself. See how it performs in the air.
“I will have a pilot with me who will just be watching, as I am, as the autonomous technology works,” Kendall told the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense panel. “Hopefully neither he nor I will need to fly the plane.”
Drone warfare has quickly expanded from an aspect of combat to one of its primary weapons. Drones are a daily threat in Ukraine and the Middle East. In Ukraine, everyday citizens are targeted by Russian drones but they are also collecting drones to collect video of Russian positions. In the Middle East, the Iranian-backed Houthis and militant groups regularly use sophisticated air, sea and underwater drones to target US bases and merchant ships in the Red Sea.
The Air Force began planning for its fleet of joint combat aircraft, or CCAs, several years ago, and envisions a scenario in which a single pilot jet quarterbacks multiple AI-powered, response drones. will be capable of, what the service calls a “loyal wingman.” “
What the fleet of drones will be in size or platform, whether they will be full-sized warplanes or something smaller, the service is tightly constrained. Kendall said the modified F-16 test flight will be for them to observe the technology behind the future fleet.
The fleet is being designed specifically with a future war in mind, and possibly a conflict with China. China has rapidly modernized its anti-access capabilities as more sophisticated air defense systems make it dangerous to send human crews too close. Drones could increase the service’s ability to breach these defenses, and are envisioned to support various future missions such as surveillance or jamming.
“The aircraft’s initial role was anti-aircraft, but it will have the ability to do other things,” Kendall said.
Kendall said the drone fleet is also expected to be cheaper than building new manned jets. The current goal is for each to cost about a quarter to a third of the cost of the F-35 fighter jet, or about $20 million.
Tara Cope is a Pentagon correspondent for The Associated Press. She was previously the bureau chief of the Pentagon’s Sightline Media Group.