![]() The operation showed the vital nature of the bases in the preparation and conduct of sizeable air operations. The distribution of bases across national territory and on operations follows the principles that today define the Air Force’s stationing plan.ĭuring the night of Friday 13 April 2018, Operation Hamilton (1) was launched from a number of air bases. To continue to do this, like all of our armed forces they have to adapt to the new threats against them. “This is very focused on what the warfighters need, and they’re with us every step of the way,” Pringle said.Air bases, and the network of which they are a part, are major combat assets that allow the Air Force to conduct its permanent missions and at very short notice to project power or forces to give the political level the reactivity it requires. White said this capability will be increasingly important as the Air Force shifts away from the counterinsurgency mission it’s focused on for the last two decades, toward the potential for a high-end fight against a nation with comparable military strength such as China. Dale White, the program executive officer for fighters and advanced aircraft for the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, said at the AFRL briefing that with Kendall’s emphasis on teaming autonomous aircraft up with piloted aircraft, his office will increasingly partner with Pringle and AFRL - as well as work more closely with the operational side of the service. The VISTA, which stands for Variable In-flight Simulator Aircraft, began its life in 1992 as an F-16 but has been heavily adapted over the years into an advanced testing aircraft.īrig. And the lab is working on maturing Skyborg’s technology, particularly its autonomous core system, Pringle said.Īnd in a “particularly exciting” development, Pringle added, AFRL is working towards using the X-62A VISTA at Edwards as a platform to test Skyborg. ![]() AFRL is also partnering with the test center at Edwards Air Force Base in California to make sure it can support the kind of tests needed for Skyborg. That will include more experimenting with the General Atomics MQ-20 Avenger and Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie drones, she said. That is advancing the ball, and we’re going to continue to move the ball in ‘22.” “That’s a modular, portable autonomy core system, and that is really exciting. “We’ve taken capabilities like an autonomous core that does basic flight maneuvers, and we’ve demonstrated this kind of a capability not just on one aircraft, but multiple aircrafts and different manufacturers,” Pringle said. Heather Pringle expressed confidence in Skyborg’s prospects and said the last year of experimentation has been very successful. In a briefing with reporters at AFA, AFRL commander Maj. Costello said AFRL’s lab work is helping inform the broader studies on the autonomous wingman concept. The Air Force Research Laboratory’s work on the Skyborg program, an artificial intelligence-driven unmanned aircraft, is one of the efforts Kendall is looking at as a possible example of how this concept could work. The kind of drone wingmen a B-21 might need would likely differ from those making up the NGAD system, she said, and would require different solutions. But that step won’t happen this year, she said. If the concept shows promise in these studies, Costello said, the Air Force could move to make it a program of record. Kendall also wants these aircraft to be adaptable and allow the Air Force to add technologies and new capabilities as they become available and needed.ĭarlene Costello, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, said in a March 4 roundtable with reporters at AFA the service is now conducting an analysis to see how such an autonomous, uncrewed aircraft could be beneficial in combat, and whether it would be cost-effective. “I don’t know exactly how long a step that’s going to be, but I’m determined to make it.” “It is reasonably clear to me that we are poised to go ahead and take a significant step forward in that area,” Kendall said at the McAleese conference. ![]() The following week, Kendall told the McAleese Defense Programs Conference he had conversations at AFA with several unidentified companies, including small businesses, that are working on “very interesting things” in unmanned combat aircraft. He said this concept is still in its earlier stages and its possible cost-effectiveness is somewhat more “speculative.” The NGAD’s drone-teaming concept is a little more mature, he said, and he has greater confidence in it. In a roundtable with reporters later that day, Kendall said more work needs to be done to flesh out the idea of teaming drones up with the B-21.
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