A US Air Force F-22 Raptor has directed a YFQ-44A Collaborative Combat Aircraft during an airborne tactical-control demonstration, with the fighter pilot issuing commands that were interpreted and executed autonomously by the uncrewed aircraft, according to the US Air Force.
The demonstration took place earlier in October and was intended to test in-flight command and control between a crewed fighter and an autonomous combat aircraft as the Air Force continues development of its Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCA, programme. During the flight, the F-22 pilot acted as what the service described as an airborne “quarterback”, issuing high-level tactical instructions to a single YFQ-44A rather than directly flying the uncrewed aircraft.
The YFQ-44A’s onboard autonomy software then interpreted those instructions in real time and carried out dynamic manoeuvres and simulated combat tasks, allowing the F-22 pilot to direct the aircraft at the mission level rather than control individual flight inputs.
According to a US Air Force news update, Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink said: “This achievement demonstrates what is possible when we are aligned with industry on a shared imperative: delivering capability to the warfighter at unprecedented speed.”
He added: “We are driving urgency into every part of acquisition from rapid integration and flight learning to disciplined assessment, so we can turn promising technology into combat capability at the pace the threat demands.”
The test involved personnel from the 412th Test Wing, 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron, 309th Software Engineering Group, Experimental Operations Unit, F-22 System Program Office and the CCA Software Autonomy and Teaming Branch. Data gathered during the flight will now be used to support further software integration and developmental testing, as well as the Air Force’s work on future operational concepts for Collaborative Combat Aircraft.
The demonstration is focused on one of the central ideas behind CCA: allowing crewed combat aircraft to command groups of semi-autonomous aircraft without requiring pilots to manually control every movement.
Under that model, an F-22 or another crewed aircraft could assign tasks to uncrewed platforms, with onboard autonomy handling the detailed execution of those instructions while the human pilot retains tactical command.
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General Ken Wilsbach said: “This flight shows the power of crewed-uncrewed teaming and the advantage it provides our warfighters.”
He added: “We must test often, learn fast and give commanders what they need, when they need it.”
The YFQ-44A is one of the aircraft being developed under the US Air Force’s CCA programme, which is intended to introduce lower-cost uncrewed combat aircraft capable of operating alongside crewed fighters.
