US Air Force Working on Next Generation Drone Fleet

Air Force leaders are in the early stages of planning the service’s next-generation drone fleet that could reshape the Air Force’s entire fleet and continue to lower the number of airborne pilots, service officials said.

The Air Force’s drone fleet has taken over a much more prominent role in combat operations over the past ten years, but the technologies incorporated into the Air Force’s drone fleet still lag woefully behind the most advanced manned fighters and bombers.

This could change over the next 25 years if the service can execute its Remotely Pilot Aircraft Vector, which spells out the next 25-years of anticipated drone developments.

Col. Ken Callahan, A2 director of remotely piloted aircraft capabilities, said the service wants to see its future drone fleet to incorporate stealth and network capabilities similar to its manned aircraft fleet.

Future Air Force drones will also need to be modular, meaning engineers can exchange sensor payloads when mission requirements change or new technology emerges, Callahan explained.

Some drones will likely get much smaller, as new technology continues to enable platforms to do more functions such as carry sensors at smaller, more compact sizes, he added.

The RPA Vector addresses the changing conceptual landscape as the Air Force continues to shift focus a more challenged or “contested” operating environment that could include advanced Chinese and Russian radar systems.

“Our focus in Iraq and Afghanistan was ground-centric. It was a counter-insurgency, counter terrorism kind of fight,” Callahan said.

While drones and their pilots will continue their focus on surveillance missions, they will also become increasingly cognizant of air-to-air threats and potential engagements, he said.

Callahan explained that drones are not likely to perform air-to-air combat missions over enemy territory at first. However, he did say future air-to-air superiority fighters could very well be unmanned or optionally-manned.

In fact, the Air Force’s new Long Range Strike Bomber is being engineered to fly unmanned and manned missions, senior Air Force officials have said.

Service officials are exploring numerous concepts and researching some of the next-generation aircraft already built by major defense manufacturers, Callahan said.

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