Drones, the Air Littoral, and the Looming Irrelevance of the USAF

[Kirkhill]

AUKUS in the air

The Boeing Australia MQ-28 Ghost Bat CCA can be handed off from RAAF to USAF and RAF fighter control.

Common Standard Opens Up CCA Sharing Between Australia, U.S. | Aviation Week

U.S. and Australian fighter pilots will have the technical ability to take turns flying the same MQ-28, a Boeing official says.

aviationweek.com

 

[Kirkhill]

AUKUS in the air

The Boeing Australia MQ-28 Ghost Bat CCA can be handed off from RAAF to USAF and RAF fighter control.

Common Standard Opens Up CCA Sharing Between Australia, U.S. | Aviation Week

U.S. and Australian fighter pilots will have the technical ability to take turns flying the same MQ-28, a Boeing official says.

aviationweek.com

The MQ-28 has already demonstrated the ability to launch the AIM-120 AMRAAM, in similar fashion to the German Cobra 600 launching an IRIS-T.

 

[Kirkhill]

Lockheed bought Divergent and invested 25 MUSD.

12 months later they had a 3D printed, robot assembled, UAV. Software included.

Lockheed Skunk Works built new drone using 3D printing

Lockheed Martin's secretive Skunk Works division has built a drone from scratch in under a year using 3D-printing technology, demonstrating a manufacturing approach that the company says could fundamentally change how quickly the U.S. defense industry can develop and field

defence-blog.com

 

[Kirkhill]

More on the Ghost Bat

Newer, bigger

Boeing unveils bigger Ghost Bat drone with enhanced combat powers

Boeing's Ghost Bat Block 3 also has beyond line of sight (BLOS) communication links which will enable the drone to be operated from far-off.

interestingengineering.com