They call it Skyborg, and no, it has nothing to do with the Terminator movies, or Arnold Schwarzenegger..But it's definitely futuristic..The US Air Force's Skyborg program is "an artificial intelligence-enabled autonomous system to control uncrewed aircraft in a future manned/unmanned aircraft teaming concept.".That's right, an autonomous, unmanned "loyal wingman" type aircraft..And the service said it hopes to have this technology in service by 2023..As reported in Air Force magazine, it was announced at this week's Farnborough International Airshow that a pair of XQ-58 Valkyrie drones successfully completed a series of tests..Defense contractor Kratos, which manufactures the Valkyrie, announced the successful tests, but offered no details on what those tests demonstrated or when they occurred..The program remains largely classified..They did, however, mark a milestone for Skyborg’s testing..The Autonomous Core System, the “brain” of the system, flew for the first time in April 2021 on a Kratos UTAP-22 Mako air vehicle..The next month, it flew on a General Atomics MQ-20 Avenger..The XQ-58, meanwhile, conducted a limited number of flight tests — six as of April 2021 — showcasing some of its capabilities including releasing another drone in flight and carrying technology allowing an F-35 and F-22 to share data in-flight..All part and parcel of MDO — Multi-Domain Operations (MDO), which will link US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Space Force services, to counter and defeat a near-peer adversary in all domains [air, land, maritime, space, and cyberspace]..The drone was first developed as part of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Low Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology (LCAAT) portfolio and flew its first several tests before Kratos was selected in late 2020 as one of three companies to conduct Skyborg flights..“It’s been a stepping stone type of project. You start small, and you keep growing and adding and adding capabilities to the flights,” Jeffrey Herro, a senior vice president in Kratos’ unmanned systems division, said in an interview with Air Force Magazine at Farnborough..“And this is like every other test program — it’s exactly what you do. In our business, we call it crawl, walk, run. And that’s what the Skyborg program has been doing… This is a program about autonomy, really. That’s what the program is..“We’re very happy with the performance of it. The performance on these last flights … was very good. We’re really happy with that," he said..Herro said the program acted as a “proof of concept” for the USAF as the service pushes forward to develop uncrewed, autonomous aircraft to fly alongside fighters and bombers — efforts that Air Force Secretary Kendall has included among his top priorities..“We’re going to go from demonstrations and experiments and technology maturation and risk reduction into full-scale development, or engineering, manufacturing, development, production,” Kendall told a defence symposium in December.."While it will take some time to “sort all that out, … we’re going to get on with building something… It’s a commitment to go forward.”.The emphasis, he said, will be on “moving fast,” as it has been for several years, but “going in the right direction is pretty important, too. And so we want to make sure we do the work up front to make sure we’re going in the right direction and … get to meaningful opportunities [and] operational capability as quickly as we can.”.“The tactics are very much to be determined,” he added.. Valkyrie combat drone .According to autoevolution.com, the XQ-58 was developed through a process that saved both time and costs, making it a platform that can be used for multiple missions without costing the Air Force too much when it becomes a combat loss..It combines an extremely long range (2,449 miles/3,941 km) with high speed (652 mph/1,050 kph) while also being capable of operating in locations without a conventional runway — launched from nondescript launch modules, such as support ships, shipping containers or semi-trailer trucks..The aircraft will be capable of conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, as well as carry out long-range strikes and performing escort duty..Its internal bomb bay and wing stations will hide lethal weapons, such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and small diameter bombs..It is also capable of being deployed as part of a swarm of drones, with or without direct pilot control..In fact, its utility is remarkable, and cheap, all things considered..In the case of the XQ-58A, the first test model, Kratos has in the past mentioned a unit cost of around US$2 million, under full-rate production..Compare that to the current cost of America's most advanced jet fighter..Under the terms of the current agreement with Lockheed Martin, an F-35A will cost US$77.9 million in Lot 14, with the F-35B short takeoff and landing variant coming in at US$101.3 million and the F-35C carrier variant at US$94.4 million during the same period..On top of that, the cost of training a USAF pilot is between US$3-11 million depending on the aircraft, and it takes approximately five years for a pilot to be ready for operations..Taking that into account, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why the USAF is headed in this direction..Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:KTOS) develops and fields transformative, affordable technology, platforms and systems for United States National Security related customers, allies, and commercial enterprises.
