Posted on 03/11/2024 12:56:20 PM PDT by Red Badger
The announced program will form part of the larger $6 billion Collaborative Combat Aircraft project.
Artist's impression of Boeing MQ-28 wingmen in formation with a piloted jet fighter. - Boeing
The United States Pentagon has announced its intention to fund the development of a fleet of artificial intelligence-piloted (AI-piloted) aircraft. The contract has gone out to tender with the plan to contract two private contractors to develop the craft.
Called the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) project, it will form part of a larger $6 billion program to see at least 1,000 new drones join the United States Air Force (USAF) ranks. The AI-piloted drones will fly alongside human pilots and help provide cover, escort, fire support, and scouting roles.
To be considered, the proposed aircraft must be able to fly at least 30 feet (9.1 meters) above the ground autonomously and at ground speeds of 600 mph (966 kph). The AI-piloted drone fleet will need to be able to perform risky maneuvers and escort and protect crewed planes, carry weapons to attack targets on the ground and in the air, and act as scouts.
The Pentagon plans to select two companies by this summer to produce the planes to complete hundreds within five years. Each plane is expected to cost between $10 and $20 million. To put that into perspective, a new F-35 costs around $100 million apiece, while a B-21 can cost upwards of $750 million per unit.
Thousands of AI-piloted fighters “[The AI-piloted drones] offer a lot of things that traditional crewed fighter planes just aren’t designed to do,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told the Wall Street Journal.
The AI-piloted planes will be designed to be expendable, flying one or two missions before being retired or destroyed, making them cheaper than manned aircraft.
VIDEO AT LINK.............
This, then, presumably, also forms part of the Pentagon’s larger vision for its “Replicator program” of expendable, so-called “attritable” drones to help the US combat China’s growing drone strength.
Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Atomics, and Anduril Industries confirmed their intentions to develop the drones. General Atomics is another potential bidder, and new entrants like Anduril are also likely to submit bids for the program.
Boeing’s MQ-28 is in the running
Only Boeing has released its vision for the program with its futuristic MQ-28 “Ghost Bat” proposal. “The Boeing MQ-28 is a new uncrewed aircraft using artificial intelligence to be that force multiplier. It’s designed to work as a smart team with existing military aircraft to complement and extend airborne missions,” explains Boeing on its dedicated “Ghost Bat” webpage.
“The MQ-28 has enough capability to get the job done – from ISR to tactical early warning and more – but with a low-cost design that allows operators to confidently put it on the front line,” they add.
In August 2023, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks stated that AI-enabled autonomous vehicles deployed by the US military would provide affordable and expendable units, significantly improving the sluggish pace of military innovation.
The Daily Mail reports that the USAF has announced that it will need 100 new AI-piloted jets yearly. Companies have been advised to keep their designs simple and focus on the minimum mission requirements rather than planning for every possible scenario. However, pilots have previously opposed this, fearing that unmanned aircraft could make them redundant.
AI Aviation Ping!..................
Boeing?
These goofballs can’t even put together a passenger plane that doesn’t fall apart.
I recall reading a sci fi story many many years ago that touted “manned missiles” as just the thing to evade missile defence systems. They could jig and jag and dodge like no one else to avoid anti-missile systems. Left unexplained was how these kamikaze pilots could withstand g-forces inside a missile and live to reach targets.
By the time the AF design committee gets done negotiating, it will be the size of the F35 and need a pilot
We need to take away weapons from the government. All they do is waste them on shithole wars or use them against lawful citizens.
Starve these pigs.
Isaac Asimov wrote a similar short story.
The military future was at a stand-off because everybody used computer driven machines that could predict every move the other side’s computer driven machines would do and thus cancelled each others advantages.
By putting real human pilots back in the driver seat, they could not predict what they would do..............
“The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.”
― George Orwell, 1984
“Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”
― George Orwell, 1984
“...the object of waging a war is always to be in a better position in which to wage another war.”
― George Orwell, 1984
“The war, therefore if we judge it by the standards of previous wars, is merely an imposture. It is like the battles between certain ruminant animals whose horns are incapable of hurting one another. But though it is unreal it is not meaningless. It eats up the surplus of consumable goods, and it helps to preserve the special mental atmosphere that the hierarchical society needs. War, it will be seen, is now a purely internal affair. In the past, the ruling groups of all countries, although they might recognize their common interest and therefore limit the destructiveness of war, did fight against one another, and the victor always plundered the vanquished. In our own day they are not fighting against one another at all. The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact. The very word “war,” therefore, has become misleading. It would probably be accurate to say that by becoming continuous war has ceased to exist. The peculiar pressure that is exerted on human beings between the Neolithic Age and the early twentieth century has disappeared and has been replaced by something quite different. The effect would be much the same if the three superstates, instead of fighting one another, should agree to live in perpetual peace, each inviolate within its own boundaries. For in that case each would still be a self-contained universe, freed forever from the sobering influence of external danger. A peace that was truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war. This—although the vast majority of Party members understand it only in a shallower sense—is the inner meaning of the Party slogan: WAR IS PEACE.”
― George Orwell, 1984
“Manned Missiles! That’s the ticket.”
Relax. It only has three wheels. Surely they can remember to tighten the lug nuts on three wheels.
They can, can’t they?
Oh.
...flying one or two missions before being retired or destroyed, making them cheaper than manned aircraft.The Pentagon has a hard time grasping "low-cost." A $10 million - $20 million throw-away drone?? Of course, when it is fielded, the fly-away price will be $50 million per copy and they will order 1/10 of what they original thought.
...so-called “attritable” drones
...low-cost design
These morons really think AI is GREAT ,LOL
Inevitable and probably delayed because of politics and fear.
“Self-driving” cars are not a reality yet. I wonder why they think there can be successful “self-flying” planes.
Humans are not perfect, but humans can quickly adapt to never-encountered situations much better than a machine.
Do they really think some computer code can beat an Army/Navy/Air Force/Marine pilot?
A good idea but a more immediate concern is an affordable anti-drone response.
“These morons really think AI is GREAT ,LOL”
AI isn’t great at most things but it’s good at killing.
Computers can handle much higher Gs and don’t require life support.
Stay alive
Enemy-shoot
Refuel & Rearm
Repeat
Those scenes from media where some wiz kid outsmarts AI was for kids. Computers don’t buy tickets or watch movies.
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