Loyal Wingman Project will change future of Air warfare.
A Swarm Of Drones Controlled by a single F-35 or an E-7 AWACS.
Boeing's Loyal Wingman program achieves 'Weight on Wheels' milestone
Australia, April 9, 2020 - Boeing Australia recently achieved two more milestones on the Royal Australian Air Force's Loyal Wingman – Advanced Development Program: weight on wheels and aircraft power on.
The development milestones for the unmanned aircraft come just weeks after completion of the first fuselage, allowing for rapid progress on systems installation and functional and integration testing from the aircraft's own landing gear.
"We're continuing at pace toward our goal of flying later this year, so that we can show our customer and the world what unmanned capability like this can do," said Dr. Shane Arnott, program director of the Boeing Airpower Teaming System. "The strong contributions from our industry team are powering our progress."
Boeing Australia recently achieved two more milestones on the Royal Australian Air Force’s Loyal Wingman – Advanced Development Program: weight on wheels and aircraft power on
Boeing has revealed it has made new progress with the first prototype of its new loyal wingman drone for the Royal Australian Air Force. Recently, for the first time, the unmanned aircraft, which is still in an incomplete state, sat unsupported on its own landing gear and had its main electrical power system turned on.
The Chicago-headquartered planemaker announced the new milestone on Apr. 8, 2020. The company had only revealed that it had completed the bulk of the work on the drone's fuselage on Feb. 10, 2020. Boeing's Australia division, based in Brisbane, is leading the project, also known as the Airpower Teaming System (ATS), which it first unveiled publicly in February 2019. You can read more about the program and its implications in this past War Zone piece.
"We’re continuing at pace toward our goal of flying later this year, so that we can show our customer and the world what unmanned capability like this can do," Dr. Shane Arnott, Boeing's Airpower Teaming System program director, said in a statement. "The strong contributions from our industry team are powering our progress."
The full-size loyal wingman drones will be approximately 38 feet long, will be powered by a bizjet-class jet engine, and have a range of around 2,000 nautical miles. The Royal Australian Air Force plans to network them together with various manned platforms, including its F-35A Joint Strike Fighters and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, as well as its EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control platforms, and P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol planes. It's worth pointing out that all of these aircraft except the F-35As are also Boeing products.
The Airpower Teaming System could offer a game-changing boost in capability for the Royal Australian Air Force at a relatively low cost. The War Zone has highlighted the potential capabilities these drones might provide in the past, writing:
"For Australia, this could offer a major boost in capability at a relatively low cost and without the time and expense required to train traditional pilots. Tethered to manned aircraft via datalink, the ATS drones could provide the attritable pilots of manned aircraft with a more comprehensive picture of the battlespace around them and help them detect threats faster in order to avoid or neutralize them. Combined with the drone's stealthy design, this could be particularly valuable for helping to further reduce the risks to higher cost assets, such as the F-35, when penetrating deep into heavily defended areas."
"The modular nature of the design also supports the goal of the rapid integration of new capabilities and payloads with minimal cost and effort. As time goes on, armed versions of the ATS unmanned aircraft could help increase the magazine capacity, sensor diversity, and more of a mixed manned-unmanned force, or even just operate as autonomous swarms."
"Really, this is a low-risk way for the RAAF to explore semi-autonomous concept of operations, in general. ATS may turn out to have limited potential, but it is extremely cost-effective and could serve as a valuable stepping stone to future unmanned developments."
Other countries around the world, including the United States and the United Kingdom, are also looking at loyal wingmen type drones.
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