The age of the piloted fighter aircraft may not be over but the US Air Force has shown that it may be time to start collecting the coats, as it has designated two prototype combat drones as official combat aircraft.
The major military powers have for years been keen on the idea of uncrewed combat aircraft, to the point where it isn't uncommon to see analysis pieces online speculating as to whether this or another fighter jet will be the last one designed to carry a human pilot.
Things haven't reached the point where pilots are being put out to pasture, but the military advantages of increasingly sophisticated autonomous aircraft are becoming more apparent as time passes. One particularly important application is to create a new class of combat aircraft that can act as a loyal wingman for the human pilot, serving as a force multiplier while keeping the more valuable human less in harm's way and acting more like an executive officer in charge of the overall mission.
There have been a number of experimental projects to create such aircraft. Now the Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft program has taken things a giant step further, by declaring that the YFQ-42A made by General Atomics and the YFQ-44A from Anduril are now official combat planes. In this case, the designations stand for Y - Prototype, F - Fighter, Q - Unmanned Aircraft, design number 42 and 44, and A - series.
According to the Air Force, if and when these aircraft go into production, the Y designation will be removed.
This marks the first time in any air force that an uncrewed combat aircraft has joined the general ranks. Both of these fighters are about half the size of an F-16 Fighting Falcon, yet have comparable performance envelopes that will allow them to operate with the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II.
Despite the new designation, the YFQ-42A and the YFQ-44A will be used primarily as test and evaluation vehicles to gather information for the production aircraft.
"Now we have two prototypes of Collaborative Combat Aircraft," said Air Force Chief of Staff General David W. Allvin. "They were only on paper less than a couple of years ago, and they are going to be ready to fly this summer.
"For the first time in our history, we have a fighter designation in the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A. It may be just symbolic, but we are telling the world we are leaning into a new chapter of aerial warfare. It means collaborative combat aircraft, it means human-machine teaming. We are developing those capabilities thinking, 'mission first.'"
Source: US Air Force
