Collaborative combat aircraft

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XQ-58A Valkyrie unmanned combat aerial vehicle

Collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) is a US program for unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs) that is considered broadly equivalent to a loyal wingman. CCAs are intended to operate in collaborative teams with the next generation of manned combat aircraft, including sixth-generation fighters and bombers such as the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider.[1] Unlike the conventional UCAVs, the CCA incorporates artificial intelligence (AI), denoted an "autonomy package", increasing its survivability on the battlefield. It is still expected to cost much less than a manned aircraft with similar capabilities.[2] The US Air Force plans to spend more than $6 billion on its CCA programs from 2023 to 2028.[3][4] The success of the CCA program may lessen the need for additional manned squadrons.[5][6]

Characteristics[edit]

A CCA is a military drone with an onboard AI control system and capability to carry and deliver a significant military weapons load. Its AI system is envisaged as being significantly lighter and lower-cost than a human pilot with their associated life support systems, but offering comparable capability in flying the aircraft and in mission execution.

Role[edit]

The principal application is to elevate the role of human pilots to mission commanders, leaving AIs to operate under their tactical control as high-skill operators of relatively low-cost robotic craft.[7]

CCAs can perform other missions as well,[8] as "a sensor,[a] as a shooter, as a weapons carrier, as a cost reducer".[9][10]

Capabilities[edit]

Although a CCA will be a fraction of the cost of a manned fighter, they would not be considered expendable or even vulnerable to attrition.[11] A CCA would have sufficient intelligence and onboard defense systems to survive on the battlefield. US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has described them as playing perhaps "100 roles":[12] remotely controlled versions of targeting pods, electronic warfare pods or weapons carriers to provide additional sensors and munitions; to balance affordability and capability.[13][11]

The price point of a CCA will determine how many types of missions a single airframe can perform, with more expensive designs able to be multirole aircraft, while cheaper designs could be modular to perform different tasks on different days which can afford to be lost in combat.[1][10] Two increments are planned: increment 1 CCAs will have sensor and targeting systems to focus on carrying additional munitions for manned aircraft; increment 2 CCAs will have greater stealth and autonomy to perform missions including EW, SEAD, and potentially act as decoys. It's possible two distinct solutions could emerge from this stage, one high end and "exquisite" and the other more basic and inexpensive oriented around a single mission.[14][15]

The USAF is seeking CCAs with greater thrust than the current MQ-28 and the XQ-58.[16]

History[edit]

The concept of the CCA arose in the early 2000s. CCA programs include the USAF Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program.[17] The US Navy and USAF plan to be able to control the CCAs and NGADs of either service.[18][19][11][20] The CCA is being developed in collaborative fashion[21] by multiple commands of the USAF: MG Heather L. Pringle of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL); MG R. Scott Jobe of Air Combat Command (ACC); LTG Dale R. White, program executive officer (PEO) for fighters and advanced aircraft; and BG Joseph Kunkel, DCS, Plans and Programs. [22] All four generals agreed on the need to put CCAs into the Joint Simulation Environment.[22][b]

Defense policy expert Heather Penney has identified five key elements for the collaborative development of crewed-uncrewed teaming of autonomous loyal wingmen, remote pilots of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and pilots flying separately in manned aircraft (also called manned-unmanned teaming).[37][38][39]

  1. Create concepts that will maximize the strengths of both CCA and piloted aircraft working as a team.
  2. Include operators in CCA development to ensure they understand how they will perform in the battlespace.
  3. Warfighters must be able to depend on CCA autonomy.
  4. Warfighters must have assured control over CCA in highly dynamic operations.
  5. Human workloads must be manageable.

The Autonomous Core System, Skyborg's autonomy package, was shown to be portable across multiple airframes;[40][41] this has led Skyborg to become a Program of Record with a Program Executive Officer (PEO) for acquisition.[40][42] Skyborg will continue to serve as a science and technology platform.[40]

DARPA AlphaDogfight Trials (ADTs),[7] 20 August 2020
The General Dynamics X-62 VISTA is a modified F-16 which can fly autonomously, with a test pilot to take over if necessary
MQ-9 Reaper (UAV) at a forward area refuelling point

Most UAVs are remotely piloted, but an AI program piloting a collaborative combat aircraft would need a mission commander for crewed-uncrewed teaming. —Heather Penney.[38][39] In 2020, The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) AlphaDogfight test program established that AI programs that fly fighter aircraft will overmatch human pilots, to the extent that the AI agents even flew with fine motor control.[43][44] An autonomy package on the Venom testbed has demonstrated dogfighting capability.[45] The NGAD[46][47] is anticipated to use loyal wingmen (CCAs).[48][49][9] Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall envisions these uncrewed aircraft as performing parts of a larger mission;[17] CCA development can be conducted in parallel with NGAD development, which has to take into account a larger set of requirements.[9] Up to five autonomous CCAs would operate with an NGAD.[17]

Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) will test their Skyborg manned-unmanned programs such as Autonomous Air Combat Operations (AACO),[50] and DARPA will test its Air Combat Evolution (ACE)[8] artificial intelligence program.[51] The System for Autonomous Control of Simulation (SACS) software for human interface is being developed by Calspan.[51]

DARPA's Longshot is an air-launched UAV meant to extend the range of a mission[52] and reduce the risk to manned aircraft, which could then remain at standoff range; if Longshot were to use Air Combat Evolution (ACE),[8] missiles launched from that Longshot could more effectively select targets.[53] On March 6, 2023, DARPA chose General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) to carry out the design of the air-launched Longshot drone through Critical Design Review (CDR); a LongShot would itself carry an AMRAAM or Sidewinder missile, which greatly extends the range of these missiles.[54] In this way, a Boeing F-15EX Eagle II or similar 4th-generation fighter can greatly increase their survivability, when armed with a LongShot.[54] GA-ASI is developing a core package (Gambit) for the CCA market.[55]

On 9 December 2022 the Air Force Test Pilot School tested its General Dynamics X-62 VISTA, a modified F-16 Fighting Falcon which can fly autonomously, with 2 different AI packages.[50] By 16 December 2022 the Vista had flown eight sorties using ACE, and six sorties using AACO, at a rate of two sorties per day.[50][56][57] Six F-16s from Eglin AFB will be fitted with autonomy agents, to establish the foundation of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program.[58][59][43] The CCA lines of effort as of March 2023 were:[59][60]

  1. Developing the Collaborative combat aircraft platform itself,
  2. developing the autonomy package that will fly a CCA, and
  3. figuring out how to organize, train, equip, and supply the CCA program [60]

On 24 January 2024, the US Air Force awarded contracts to five contractor teams led by Anduril, Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman for the development of collaborative combat aircraft.[61]

On 24 April 2024, the US Air Force announced that they had eliminated Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman from the Increment I competition and that the Anduril Fury and General Atomics Gambit would be moving forward with development. The Air Force expects to make a final decision between the two companies' offerings by 2026.[14][62] As the CCA program is expected to result in multiple types of aircraft with varying capabilities and costs, all companies are expected to bid again for follow-on Increments.[63]

Funding[edit]

A CCA is estimated to cost between one-half and one-quarter as much as $80 million Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.[5] US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall is aiming for an initial fleet of 1,000 CCAs.[64] As elements of a crewed-uncrewed team, two CCAs could be teamed with an NGAD or F-35, say two for each of the 200 NGAD platforms,[65] and two for each of the 300 F-35s, in order to work out concepts to integrate them into the service,[60] but the full inventory could be twice that size.[66][67]

The 26th Secretary of the US Air Force listed CCAs among his top seven priorities for the fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget request to its Chief of staff:[9] Collaborative combat aircraft are entering the FY2024 presidential budget request;[59] Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) projects are estimated to be $500 million for perhaps "100 roles" in USAF missions in FY2024.[12] The US Air Force plans to spend more than $6 billion on its CCA programs over the next five years (2023 to 2028).[3]

List of CCAs[edit]

Several CCAs are or have been under development.

Examples include:

See also[edit]

Notes and references[edit]

  1. ^ a b Off board sensor system (OBSS)[55][68][69][70]
  2. ^ Improved CCA AI will simplify the kill chains.[10][23] See Deptula and Penney, Mosaic Warfare [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36][2]
  1. ^ a b Losey, Stephen (2023-09-06). "US Air Force general eyes more uses for drone wingmen". Defense News. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  2. ^ a b Stephen Losey (11 May 2023) US Air Force wants drone wingmen to bring 'mass' airpower on a budget
  3. ^ a b Harper, Jon (2023-03-27). "Air Force preparing for 'tethered' and 'untethered' CCA drone operations". DefenseScoop. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  4. ^ a b Tangalakis-Lippert, Katherine. "The US Air Force wants $5.8 billion to build 1,000 AI-driven unmanned combat aircraft, possibly more, as part of its next generation air dominance initiative". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  5. ^ a b Tirpak, John (2023-03-30). "Collaborative Combat Aircraft Will Join the Air Force Before NGAD". Air & Space Forces Magazine. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  6. ^ Lipton, Eric (2023-08-27). "A.I. Brings the Robot Wingman to Aerial Combat". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  7. ^ a b Theresa Hitchens (20 August 2020) AI Slays Top F-16 Pilot In DARPA Dogfight Simulation The AI systems are eventually to serve as wingmen for human commanders.
  8. ^ a b c d Lt. Col. Ryan Hefron (July 2021) Air Combat Evolution (ACE)
  9. ^ a b c d Tirpak, John (2022-08-29). "Brown: Collaborative Combat Aircraft Not Just for NGAD". Air & Space Forces Magazine. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  10. ^ a b c More Range, More Missions: Air Force Leaders Open to a Wide Variety of Uses for CCAs. Air & Space Forces Magazine. 7 September 2023.
  11. ^ a b c Michael Marrow (8 Mar 2023) CCA fighter wingmen drones won't be 'attritable', despite 'common misconception': General
  12. ^ a b Audrey Decker (18 May 2023) USAF Sees '100 Roles' for Its Robot Wingmen—and Firms Are Lining Up to Make Them
  13. ^ Greg Hadley (14 December 2022) Air Force Leaders: CCA Is About Capability, Not Just Cost. Air & Space Forces Magazine.
  14. ^ a b Anduril and General Atomics to Develop New Collaborative Combat Aircraft for Air Force. Air & Space Forces Magazine. 24 April 2024.
  15. ^ Autonomous, Armed and Dangerous. Air & Space Forces Magazine. 28 March 2024.
  16. ^ Aviation Week (29 Sep 2023) U.S. Air Force Releases Engine Thrust Range For Future CCAs
  17. ^ a b c Tirpak, John (2022-06-24). "Kendall Dispenses With Roper's Quick NGAD Rhythm; System is Too Complex". Air & Space Forces Magazine. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  18. ^ Joseph Trevithick (5 April 2023) Navy Carrier-Based Drones Will Be Able To Be Controlled By The Air Force
  19. ^ Michael Marrow (7 Mar 2023) Next gen numbers: Air Force plans ‘nominal’ buy of 200 NGAD fighters, 1,000 drone wingmen "One way to think of [collaborative combat aircraft] is as remotely controlled versions of the targeting pods, electronic warfare pods or weapons now carried under the wings of our crewed aircraft" —Frank Kendall
  20. ^ Tim McMillan (16 Nov 2023) REVEALED: THE PENTAGON’S SECRETIVE NEXT-GENERATION X-PLANE THAT COULD REVOLUTIONIZE AIR WARFARE NGADs and CCAs will team. At least 3 NGAD prototypes have been built (as of 2023).
  21. ^ af.mil Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs Office (SAF/PAO) (17 November 2022) Senior Leaders hold Background Briefing on Collaborative Combat Aircraft on November 17, 2022.
  22. ^ a b John A. Tirpak (27 Mar 2023) Part-Time Wingmen: CCAs Won't Always Be 'Tethered' to Crewed Platforms
  23. ^ Jaspreet Gill (8 Aug 2023) Air Force developing new architecture for JADC2 'kill chains', wants faster ABMS development BG Luke Cropsey: "The first analysis of what that architecture would look like was delivered to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall in June [2023]"
  24. ^ Deptula and Penney (1 Nov 2019) Mosaic Warfare Kill Web
  25. ^ Dr Gregg Kuperman DARPA Adapting Cross-Domain Kill-Webs (ACK)
  26. ^ Ray Alderman (29 Sep 2020) origins of the kill web multi-param expressions to fill in intelligence, use derivatives of position as analogy.
  27. ^ cimsec (3 Feb 2022) @CHANNEL – A DIALOGUE CONCERNING KILL WEBS
  28. ^ SAM RICHMAN (17 Dec 2020) A JADC2 and Mosaic Warfare Future: Extending Microservices and CI/CD into the Physical Battlespace
  29. ^ BENJAMIN JENSEN AND JOHN PASCHKEWITZ (23 Dec 2019) MOSAIC WARFARE: SMALL AND SCALABLE ARE BEAUTIFUL
  30. ^ Robbin Laird (6/25/2022) Preparing for Kill Web Concepts of Operations: Squaring Testing-Training Circle
  31. ^ RAY ALDERMAN Transitioning from the Kill Chain to the Kill Web
  32. ^ Kris Osborn (20 Dec 2020) Kill Web: Why the U.S. Military Sees Speed as the Ultimate Weapon
  33. ^ Theresa Hitchens (10 Sep 2019) Mosaic Warfare MDO
  34. ^ Ed Timperlake and Robbin Laird (4/6/2021) Kill Webs, Engagement Density and Escalation Management
  35. ^ Lockheed-Martin (2021) Advancing Kill Web Capabilities
  36. ^ Eric Lofgren (29 Sep 2020) Real time cross-domain kill webs — ACK and STITCHES
  37. ^ Heather Penney (September 2022) Five Imperatives for Developing Collaborative Combat Aircraft for Teaming Operations MITCHELL INSTITUTE Policy Paper 38 Sep 2022. 40 pages,
  38. ^ a b Heather Penney (2 Dec 2022) Crewed-Uncrewed Teaming "The 5 Keys to Achieving Highly Collaborative Combat Aircraft"
  39. ^ a b Mitchell Institute podcast Episode 100 – Collaborative Combat Aircraft: Understanding Next Steps, retrieved 2023-01-03 pilots Heather Penney ('Lucky') and 'Slick'
  40. ^ a b c Greg Hadley (16 Aug 2022) 'Wildly Successful' Skyborg Will Become Program of Record but Won’t Stop Developing S&T
  41. ^ Daryl Meyer, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Public Affairs (6 May 2021) Skyborg autonomy core system has successful first flight Vanguard program, 3 CGs for: PEO, technology executive, and test executive
  42. ^ a b Shelley K. Mesch (10 Nov 2022) Air Force's Skyborg Vanguard to transition to Collaborative Combat Aircraft PEO
  43. ^ a b Sydney J. Freedberg, Jr. (09 September 2020) AI To Fly In Dogfight Tests By 2024: SecDef For "human-machine teaming".
  44. ^ Freedberg, Jr, Sydney J. (2020-02-24). "DoD Adopts AI Ethics Principles – But How Will They Be Enforced?". Breaking Defense. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  45. ^ Michael Marrow (19 Apr 2024) In a 'world first', DARPA project demonstrates AI dogfighting in real jet
  46. ^ "Report to Congress on Air Force Next-Generation Air Dominance Program". USNI News. 2022-06-24. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  47. ^ Losey, Stephen (2022-06-01). "The Air Force's next-gen fighter has moved into a critical new phase". Defense News. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  48. ^ Alex Hollings, Sandboxx The Air Force is fast-tracking its new NGAD fighter into service, retrieved 2023-01-03
  49. ^ Insinna, Valerie (2020-09-15). "The US Air Force has built and flown a mysterious full-scale prototype of its future fighter jet". Defense News. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  50. ^ a b c Valerie Insinna (4 Jan 2023) Inside the special F-16 the Air Force is using to test out AI DARPA’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE), AFRL's Autonomous Air Combat Operations (AACO)
  51. ^ a b "X-62A Completes First Successful VSS Flight :: Calspan". calspan.com. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  52. ^ Michael Marrow (6 Mar 2023) DARPA moves General Atomics' 'LongShot' drone pitch to phase 2 "DARPA envisions a plane launching a drone, which in turn can launch its own weapons".
  53. ^ DARPA (8 Feb 2021) DARPA Initiates Design of LongShot Unmanned Air Vehicle
  54. ^ a b Chris Jennewein (6 March 2023) General Atomics Developing 'Paradigm Changing' Drone for Air-to-Air Combat
  55. ^ a b Steve Trimble, Aviation Week (18 Sep 2022) The Weekly Debrief: GA-ASI Unveils Auto-Inspired Gambit Platform For Future UAS 4 form factors for Gambit
  56. ^ Jonathan Gitlin (14 Feb 2023) The US Air Force successfully tested this AI-controlled jet fighter This "allowed us to rapidly learn lessons and iterate at a much faster rate than with other air vehicles".—Lt. Col. Ryan "Hal" Hefron
  57. ^ Patrick Tucker (27 Mar 2023) How Self-Flying F-16s Will Enable Future Fighter Drones Venom Project
  58. ^ Defense Updates (1 Apr 2023) VENOM initiative will see 6 F-16s to fly autonomously ! Venom (Viper Experimentation and Next-Gen Operations Mode) Project
  59. ^ a b c Kristyn E. Jones, performing the duties of Under Secretary of the Air Force, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget Maj. Gen. Mike A. Greiner (13 Mar 2023) Air Force Officials Hold a Press Briefing on President Biden's Fiscal 2024 Air Force Budget
  60. ^ a b c Stephen Losey (8 March 2023) US Air Force eyes fleet of 1,000 drone wingmen as planning accelerates. Defense News.
  61. ^ Wolfe, Frank (2024-01-24). "USAF Confirms Five Companies Under Contract for CCA". Defense Daily. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  62. ^ Trevithick, Joseph (April 24, 2024). "General Atomics, Anduril Move Ahead In Collaborative Combat Aircraft Drone Program (Updated)". The War Zone. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  63. ^ Tirpak, John (25 April 2024). "Competitors Not Picked for CCA Look Forward to Increment 2". Air and Space Forces Magazine.
  64. ^ Theresa Hitchens (14 Nov 2023) Air Force plans production of CCA wingman drones by FY28: Kendall
  65. ^ Valerie Insinna; editors: Leslie Adler and Richard Chang, Reuters (18 May 2023) U.S. Air Force to award sixth-generation fighter contract in 2024 Plan: spend $2.3 billion on the program in fiscal 2024
  66. ^ John A. Tirpak (16 March 2023) Kendall: Air Force Wants as Many as 2,000 CCAs with a Common, Modular Airframe. Air & Space Forces Magazine.
  67. ^ Audrey Decker (6 Feb 2024) Robot wingmen vs. China: What a think tank's wargame revealed about a key USAF concept: "As the Air Force contemplates a range of price points, the tabletop exercise suggests cheaper is better". Mode is $10 million per CCA in the Mitchell Institute study.
  68. ^ Valerie Insinna (2 Mar 2022) General Atomics debuts 'Gambit' drone for Air Force's unmanned sensor contest
  69. ^ Donald Dixon (11 Jul 2023) Taking unmanned flight to the next level
  70. ^ Michael Marrow (9 Feb 2024) General Atomics debuts new XQ-67A Air Force sensing drone OBSS
  71. ^ Trevithick, Joseph (26 Apr 2024). "XQ-67 Confirmed To Be A Prototype For General Atomics' Collaborative Combat Aircraft Design". The Warzone. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  72. ^ Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (19 September 2022) Kratos Provides Update on Family of Collaborative Combat Aircraft Flights and Milestones
  73. ^ Insinna, Valerie (2022-12-28). "Air Force looks to take flight on 7 imperatives: 2023 Preview". Breaking Defense. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  74. ^ Breaking Defense (20 Mar 2023) Operations in contested environments demand collaborative autonomy between crewed and uncrewed aircraft
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