21 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

More than one company could get cash to build the Air Force’s AI-equipped Skyborg drone

By:

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force has kicked off a competition for one of its most highly anticipated tech programs, a drone known as Skyborg that will use artificial intelligence to make decisions in battle.

The service released a solicitation May 15 for Skyborg prototypes, which will merge autonomous, low-cost aircraft with a suite of artificial intelligence capabilities.

The Air Force envisions Skyborg as a family of drones — each designed for a specific mission or set of missions — with modular hardware and software payloads and a common AI backbone, which will allow software to be rapidly updated across the fleet.

The Air Force intends to give multiple companies $400 million to develop different versions of the Skyborg system, although it reserves the right to award just one or no contracts. Proposals are due June 15, with awards projected around July 8, according to the solicitation.

Once under contract, companies will “conduct research to develop, demonstrate, integrate and transition air vehicle, payload and autonomy technologies and systems that will provide affordable, revolutionary capabilities to the warfighter through the Skyborg program,” the Air Force said.

The service previously intended to use experimentation and prototyping to have Skyborg operational by 2023.

Skyborg will be what the service calls an attritable system, meaning that aircraft loss is expected and can be tolerated even though the system is not considered expendable and can be reused.

Aircraft should “generate massed combat power with minimal logistical footprints,” with cost per unit and the price of operating and maintaining the air vehicles a “small fraction” for that of the Air Force's existing fighter inventory, according to the solicitation.

Air Force acquisition executive Will Roper has compared Skyborg to R2-D2, the Star Wars droid that feeds Luke Skywalker helpful information while piloting an X-Wing. Skyborg would build up efficacy on its own via artificial intelligence by working with manned pilots, who would issue commands to the drone and provide feedback on the data presented by it.

Last year, Roper told Defense News that the service was exploring the possibility of teaming Skyborg both with the Lockheed Martin F-35 and the Boeing F-15EX aircraft. The ability to team manned fighter jets with smart, autonomous drones could “open up the door for an entirely different way to do aerial combat,” he said in May 2019.

“We can take risk with some systems to keep others safer,” he said at the time. “We can separate the sensor and the shooter. Right now they're collocated on a single platform with a person in it. In the future, we can separate them out, put sensors ahead of shooters, put our manned systems behind the unmanned.”

Numerous aircraft companies are expected to bid on the Skyborg solicitation.

Kratos Defense and Security Solutions is already working with the Air Force on its XQ-58A Valkyrie drone, which logged its fourth successful flight test in January as part of the Low Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology program.

Earlier this month, Boeing rolled out its own loyal wingman drone, the Airpower Teaming System. The Royal Australian Air Force has committed to buy three of those systems for experimentation under its Loyal Wingman Advanced Development Program.

General Atomics and Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works each plan to offer their own aircraft proposals, according to Air Force Magazine.

In fiscal 2021, the Air Force intends to spend $157.6 million across its three “vanguard programs,” which includes the Skyborg effort. The service also included an additional $25 million for Skyborg on its unfunded priorities list, which would allow it to begin integrating UAVs with artificial intelligence software.

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/05/20/more-than-one-company-could-get-cash-to-build-the-air-forces-ai-equipped-skyborg-drone

Sur le même sujet

  • Quand l'armée française vole au secours de l'aéronautique

    2 novembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial

    Quand l'armée française vole au secours de l'aéronautique

    HASSAN MEDDAH L'aéronautique militaire sera-t-elle la planche de salut des sous-traitants mis en grande difficulté par la crise du secteur aérien ? À l'occasion de la présentation du volet Défense du projet de loi de finances 2021, la ministre des Armées Florence Parly a annoncé de nouvelles commandes, soit 12 Rafale au profit de l'armée de l'air et 10 hélicoptères NH90 pour les forces spéciales. La commande des Rafale va apporter un ballon d'oxygène à l'ensemble du tissu industriel mobilisé pour l'appareil de combat tricolore, soit 7 000 salariés répartis dans 500 entreprises en France. L'achat des hélicoptères va soutenir l'activité d'Airbus, de Thales et de Safran et de leurs sous-traitants. Dès juin, Florence Parly avait endossé l'uniforme de bon soldat du plan de soutien à la filière aéronautique. "Soutenir l'industrie aéronautique, c'est épauler la remontée en puissance de l'économie française tout entière", avait-elle déclaré. Les armées avaient accéléré leurs achats pour un montant de 600 millions d'euros. De quoi sauvegarder plus de 1 200 emplois pendant trois ans sur l'ensemble du territoire. Faut-il y voir aussi un juste retour des choses ? L'effort de la nation pour ses armées est des plus significatifs. Après quatre années de forte augmentation, le budget de la Défense va culminer à 39,2 milliards d'euros en 2021, soit 7 milliards de plus qu'en 2017 ! https://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/quand-l-armee-francaise-vole-au-secours-de-l-aeronautique.N1015164

  • BAE Systems Secures $94M Contract to Deliver Advanced Tech to Navy

    13 novembre 2020 | International, Naval

    BAE Systems Secures $94M Contract to Deliver Advanced Tech to Navy

    Posted on November 10, 2020 by Seapower Staff MCLEAN, Va. — BAE Systems has been awarded a five-year, $94 million single-award indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract to deliver advanced technology capability to the U.S. Navy. Building on 40 years of support to the U.S. Navy, this award from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division's (NAWCAD) Webster Outlying Field (WOLF) enables the company to provide engineering, test, and evaluation support for sensors as well as communication, control, and weapons systems for various manned and unmanned airborne platforms. “We are bringing new advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and autonomy to the Airborne Systems Integration Division,” said Mark Keeler, vice president and general manager of BAE Systems' Integrated Defense Solutions business. “Our state-of-the-art digital engineering capabilities, and extensive experience in integrating airborne systems are further strengthening the warfighter's ability to meet mission requirements and ensuring combat readiness in the field.” The award recognizes BAE Systems' investments in the development of model-based systems engineering capabilities. The company's ADAMS architecture provides a digital environment for systems engineering across multidisciplinary, multi-organization teams and stakeholders. On this contract, the company will use its innovative tools and methods such as digital engineering to create the digital thread that provides full design traceability to requirements, improved collaboration, and a digital repository for the Airborne Systems Integration Division. https://seapowermagazine.org/bae-systems-secures-94m-contract-to-deliver-advanced-tech-to-navy/

  • Bezos' Blue Origin gets FAA license for its first New Glenn rocket launch

    29 décembre 2024 | International, Aérospatial

    Bezos' Blue Origin gets FAA license for its first New Glenn rocket launch

Toutes les nouvelles