By Stephen Losey

Dec 31

作者：斯蒂芬·洛西

2023年12月31日

 

The Royal Australian Air Force has experimented with teaming drones up with piloted aircraft through its Loyal Wingman program, which uses Boeing's MQ-28 Ghost Bat. The U.S. Air Force is using Ghost Bats as experimental aircraft to get airmen experience teaming autonomous drones up with crewed aircraft, Secretary Frank Kendall said. (Boeing Australia)

澳大利亚皇家空军通过其使用波音MQ-28“幽灵蝙蝠”的忠诚僚机计划，尝试将无人机与有人驾驶的飞机组队。美国国防部长弗兰克·肯德尔表示，美国空军正在使用“幽灵蝙蝠”作为实验飞机，让飞行员体验将无人驾驶飞机与载人飞机协同作战的经验。（波音澳大利亚公司）

 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force’s plan to create a fleet of drone wingmen to fly alongside piloted fighter jets will accelerate in 2024, as the service ramps up its experimentation with autonomous flight.

华盛顿——随着美国空军加强自主飞行试验，美国空军计划在2024年加快组建一支无人机联队，与无人驾驶战斗机并肩飞行。

 

These drones, which the Air Force calls collaborative combat aircraft, are intended to fly alongside F-35s and the future Next Generation Air Dominance platform. The service wants them to be able to perform a variety of missions, including striking enemy targets, conducting surveillance, jamming enemy signals, or even acting as decoys.

这些无人机被空军称为协同作战飞机，旨在与F-35和未来的下一代空中优势平台并肩飞行。该服务希望他们能够执行各种任务，包括打击敌方目标、进行监视、干扰敌方信号，甚至充当诱饵。

 

The Air Force has been using a ballpark figure of 1,000 CCAs for planning, but Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall in November said the fleet will likely end up being larger than that.

空军一直在使用1000架CCA的总体数字进行规划，但空军部长弗兰克·肯德尔在11月表示，机队最终可能会比这个数字更大。

 

But before fielding the drones, the Air Force needs to do more research on how autonomous flight will work, and how it can be folded into the day-to-day operations of units.

但在部署无人机之前，空军需要对自主飞行的工作方式以及如何将其融入部队的日常运作进行更多研究。

 

The service’s proposed 2024 budget calls for almost $50 million to test autonomous software on F-16 fighters under a program called Project VENOM. Another $69 million would be used to launch an experimental operations unit team, which would start developing tactics and procedures to incorporate CCAs into a squadron.

该服务2024年的拟议预算要求近5000万美元，用于在名为VENOM项目的F-16战斗机上测试自主软件。另外6900万美元将用于组建一个实验作战部队小组，该小组将开始制定战术和程序，将CCA纳入一个中队。

 

Project VENOM, which stands for “Viper Experimentation and Next-generation Operations Model,” would load autonomous code into six F-16s. Those fighters would be flown by humans from takeoff to an in-air experimentation zone, where the self-flying software would take over. The Air Force hopes these experiments will show whether autonomous flight, as envisioned by the CCA concept, can bring the intended benefits.

VENOM项目代表“毒蛇实验和下一代作战模型”，将把自主代码加载到六架F-16中。这些战斗机将由人类从起飞到空中实验区，在那里自动飞行软件将接管。美国空军希望这些实验能证明CCA概念所设想的自主飞行是否能带来预期的好处。

 

The Air Force wants to collect in-flight data from the Project Venom tests about how pilots and machines work together, and use that information to create more refined autonomous software.

美国空军希望从毒液测试项目中收集关于飞行员和机器如何一起工作的飞行数据，并利用这些信息创建更精细的自主软件。

 

The experimental operations unit would also help the Air Force figure out how CCAs might help with missions, and how squadrons would train to use them. This is intended to cut down on the risks that might come from teaming autonomous drones up with crewed aircraft.

实验作战部队还将帮助空军了解CCA如何帮助执行任务，以及中队如何训练使用CCA。这是为了减少无人驾驶无人机与载人飞机合作可能带来的风险。

 

Speaking at the Washington-based Center for a New American Security think tank, Kendall said the Air Force is using Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bats as experimental aircraft to team them up with crewed aircraft and get airmen operational experience.

肯德尔在总部位于华盛顿的新美国安全智库中心发表讲话时表示，空军正在使用波音MQ-28“幽灵蝙蝠”作为实验飞机，将其与有机组人员的飞机配合使用，并获得飞行员的作战经验。

 

The service also wants CCAs to be cheap enough that they could be “attritable,” meaning the service could afford to lose some in combat. According to Kendall, CCAs will probably be roughly one-quarter to one-third of the cost of an F-35, suggesting they could run $20 million to $27 million.

该服务还希望CCA足够便宜，可以“消耗”，这意味着该服务可以在战斗中损失一些。肯德尔表示，CCA的成本可能约为F-35成本的四分之一至三分之一，这意味着它们可能需要2000万至2700万美元。

 

Defense firms have already pitched several different concepts for CCAs, and the acquisition will take several years. The Air Force hopes to have the first “increment” of CCAs in production later this decade, and fielded “in reasonable quantities” soon after, Kendall said.

国防公司已经为CCA提出了几个不同的概念，收购将需要几年时间。肯德尔说，空军希望在本十年晚些时候首次“增加”CCA的产量，并在不久后“合理数量”地部署。

 

About Stephen Losey

关于斯蒂芬·洛西

 

Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.

斯蒂芬·洛西是《防务新闻》的空战记者。此前，他曾在《空军时报》、五角大楼、军事网报道领导和人事问题、特种作战和空战。他曾前往中东报道美国空军的行动。