The Air Force released the first video of a new experimental drone in flight. General Atomics’ XQ-67A is intended to prepare the service for its future fleet of autonomous collaborative combat aircraft, and the company has called the drone a “CCA prototype."
A new aircraft will soon be in the skies for testing above Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The Air Force has transferred two XQ-58 Valkyrie drones to the 40th Flight Test Squadron at Eglin, the 96th Test Wing announced—a key development as the service moves ...
Heather Penney of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies moderated a discussion on "Manned-Unmanned Teaming: Myth and Reality" with Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote, Air Force deputy chief of staff for strategy, integration, and requirements, Mike Benitez of Shield AI, Robert Winkler of Kratos, and ...
As the Air Force moves forward with plans to team manned and unmanned systems in the future, the service might be best served by pursuing platforms that can function on their own as uncrewed aircraft—but are still capable of working as “loyal wingmen” to manned ...
A pair of XQ-58 Valkyrie drones completed a series of tests for the Air Force’s Skyborg program, an artificial intelligence-enabled autonomous system to control uncrewed aircraft in a future manned/unmanned aircraft teaming concept. This marks the first public announcement of the Valkyrie flying for the ...
The Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems Inc. and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems matching $17.7 million contracts for an "Off-Board Sensing Station,” which is an unmanned aircraft that would extend a manned fighter’s sensing range and also potentially carry additional weapons for ...
Contracts worth a combined $20.2 million to Kratos and General Atomics for development of the Autonomous Core System of the Skyborg unmanned aircraft control system will propel Skyborg toward becoming a program of record on time in 2023, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center ...
The Skyborg software and hardware suite allowing unmanned aircraft to team with crewed ones flew for the first time April 29, the Air Force said, launching a series of experiments meant to prove the safety and effectiveness of the approach.
The Air Force demonstrated the successful launch of a drone by a larger remotely piloted aircraft on March 26, with the XQ-58A Valkyrie releasing a small UAS from its own internal weapons bay. The flight test, the sixth for the Valkyrie, marked the first time ...
The Air Force saw 72 aviation accidents over the course of fiscal 2020—up from 62 in fiscal 2019—including an A-29 crash that partially disabled an American Airman, according to Air Force Safety Center data. Thirteen of the 72 total accidents caused injury or death. The ...
A XQ-58 Valkyrie drone payload translated the incompatible signals of stealthy F-22 and F-35 fighters in a Dec. 9 test, enabling the aircraft to talk together and pass combat information between them. Air Force Chief Architect Preston Dunlap said the test shouldn't be viewed as ...
Boeing, General Atomics, Kratos, and Northrop Grumman received indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts that allow them to compete for Skyborg Vanguard Program delivery orders, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center announced on July 23. Skyborg is an affordable unmanned system that will partner with ...