The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) believes that the U. S. Air Force is a major threat to the U. S. Air Force. The U. S. Coast Guard (USAF) is necessarily on track to deploy collaborative fighter jets (CCAs), but expresses considerations about the speed of the program and the larger-than-expected increase. . costs consistent with aircraft.
In a study report, CSIS highlights the general need for FCAs in a context of renewed festival between the great powers, in particular with China. The goal is to build a giant number of cheap, “attributable” CCAs that use synthetic intelligence to collaborate with manned aircraft.
The report’s authors, Gregory Allen and Isaac Goldston, list several positive attributes of the USAF’s efforts to expand the CCAs. These attributes, they write, are an improvement over typical USAF fighter acquisitions, whose prices tend to rise, especially between generations of fighters.
The specific smart news spaces are the lifestyles of significant investments for CCAs, widely written requirements that promote innovation, the separation of software and hardware from CCAs, and the recent emergence of a non-classic provider, Anduril, that inspires other contractors – the other Increment. The first winner of the USAF’s CCA program was a classic supplier, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems.
The separation of hardware and software procurement means the USAF will not end up with an aircraft “that has harmful hardware and software or vice versa. “
However, CSIS raises certain concerns. First, the USAF’s comments suggest that CCAs will only be available in large numbers until the late 2020s, and perhaps longer given that Pentagon systems are prone to delays.
This is troubling because China’s ideal leader, Xi Jinping, has told the People’s Liberation Army to be in a position to invade Taiwan, a key army point between Beijing and Washington D. C. , until 2027.
CSIS is also detecting signs that the value of ACCs may be much higher than expected. Previous versions of the program advised ACCs with a unit charge of $3 million, however, CSIS notes that Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall estimated a unit charge of $25 to $30 million.
CSIS sees the danger that the USAF’s “institutional culture” will end up adopting its classic “expensive and polished” in aircraft procurement.
“Eliminating the pilot from the design of an aircraft and related devices has (in principle) the possibility of reducing the prices of an aircraft, but does not guarantee that the aircraft will be cheap,” notes CSISArray
Note that the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk is unmanned, but its unit cost is $130 million or more, due to its “exquisite sensor payloads” and low production volume.
“The Air Force already has very capable fighter jets like the F-35,” CSIS explains.
“The objective of the CCA is for it to be cheap, built temporarily and numerous. This is not to say that the Air Force deserves to tolerate poor paint from its trading partners, but simply that pricing and schedules will have to continue to be at the forefront of our concerns.
The United States government has legalized the sale of six MQ-9 Block Five Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) to Italy.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ MQ-9B SeaGuardian unmanned aerial vehicle demonstrated new features at a recent naval exercise.
The new Unmanned Aerial Warfare Center, developed by Lockheed Martin, has been installed aboard the USS George HW Bush, where it will be used for the future Boeing MQ-25 autonomous refueling tanker aircraft.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ MQ-20 Avenger unmanned aerial vehicle is used to carry out autonomous “red air” educational missions as opposed to fighter aircraft.
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has taken delivery of its first Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicle, a rite at RAAF Tindal, where the long-range surveillance tool will be based.
Firestar Systems is seeing interest from emerging markets for its diversity of unmanned aerial vehicles for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and attack missions.
FlightGlobal is the leading source of news, data, information, wisdom and experience for the global aviation network. We provide news, data, research and consulting to connect the aviation network around the world and help organizations shape their business strategies, identify new opportunities and make bigger decisions faster.