The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, working with the Air Force Research Laboratory, recently successfully tested an autonomic detect and avoid system on an unmanned vehicle. The Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System program includes a small, plug-and-play system designed for both manned and unmanned aircraft to automatically sense and avoid other aircraft nearby. The system uses just a single optical camera and “passive ranging features that assess the likelihood of an incoming aircraft intersecting the flight path of its host aircraft,” DARPA said in a Tuesday release. DARPA recently outfitted the system on a small UAV that was able to detect and avoid a Cessna 172G that approached from multiple angles and distances.
KC-46’s Refueling Boom Damaged While Refueling F-22s
July 8, 2025
A U.S. Air Force KC-46 tanker suffered damage to its boom while refueling F-22 Raptors off the coast of Virginia on July 8, Air & Space Forces Magazine has confirmed, with reported radio communication from the crew indicating the boom “detached.”