Dassault’s new Rafale line isn’t just about speeding up deliveries. It’s also important for the future F5 upgrade. And to boost France’s position in Europe’s next-gen FCAS fighter drama. 🎥
Airbus Helicopters and Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency will pair a H225M medium lift helicopter with the Flexrotor UAS via its crewed-uncrewed teaming system called HTeaming, integrated on board the helicopter, to allow its crew to take full control of the drone.
Boeing and the Royal Australian Air Force have successfully demonstrated Manned Unmanned Teaming of two MQ-28 Ghost Bat drones with an E-7A Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft, with plans for future teaming with the F/A-18 and F-35 fighters.
Italy’s Leonardo and Turkey’s Baykar are equal partners in LBA Systems, with Baykar to focus on design and development of advanced unmanned platforms and Leonardo to provide electronic systems, payloads, and implement Manned-Unmanned Teaming and swarming capabilities.
Sweden’s Saab has partnered with General Atomics to build a new Airborne Early Warning drone based on Saab’s AEW solutions, integrated on the General Atomics MQ-9B UCAV, intended to operate from naval warships in a manned-unmanned teaming configuration.
According to Airbus, ‘In military aviation, a Wingman is a pilot in another aircraft that protects and supports the flight lead, delivers more tactical options and thus contributes to mission success. In the Airbus concept, the Wingman is going to operate very much in the same way – only that it is neither a pilot nor a fighter jet flown by one. It is a fighter-type drone that will be commanded by a pilot in a current combat aircraft such as the Eurofighter and can take on high-risk mission tasks that would pose a bigger threat to manned-only aircraft.’
Using a digital F/A-18 Super Hornet and an MQ-25 Stingray unmanned refueler in a simulator lab, “a Boeing-led team virtually demonstrated an F/A-18 pilot commanding an unmanned MQ-25 to release a refueling drogue and refuel the Super Hornet, using existing communications links on both platforms,” according to a statement by the company.
With GPS-denied environments becoming increasingly common, Sweden’s Saab has put together methods and technologies for combat aircraft to conduct missions in the absence of GPS.
