Lockheed investing $100M into F-35 controlled combat drones under ‘Project Carrera’

Lockheed investing $100M into F-35 controlled combat drones under ‘Project Carrera’
Lockheed investing $100M into F-35 controlled combat drones under ‘Project Carrera’

“The underlying behaviors, the autonomy, the way in which the rest of the ecosystem works together — that is exactly what we want to uncover in these series of experiments, to understand how you would actually field this type of capability,” said a Lockheed executive.

presented by
Autonomous Capabilities For Future Vertical Lift

Autonomous Capabilities For Future Vertical Lift
Autonomous Capabilities For Future Vertical Lift

Autonomy will tie together aircraft, sensors, payloads, and human operators capabilities to enable humans to move from “operator” of one system to “manager” of many.

Army Wants Revolutionary Scout Aircraft For $30 Million, Same As Apache E

Army Wants Revolutionary Scout Aircraft For $30 Million, Same As Apache E
Army Wants Revolutionary Scout Aircraft For $30 Million, Same As Apache E

The Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) must have enough artificial intelligence to fly unmanned at least part of the time, a secure network to control drones, and combination of speed and range that’s impossible for traditional helicopters.

From Google Cars To Robot Tanks: Army RCV

From Google Cars To Robot Tanks: Army RCV
From Google Cars To Robot Tanks: Army RCV

The Google Car and Tesla Autopilot have blazed a trail for the future Army. Both robotics technology and Army thinking have come a long way since 2009, when Defense Secretary Bob Gates cancelled the massive Future Combat Systems program. Where FCS tried to invent new technology on a schedule for 19 different manned and unmanned…

Killer Angel On Your Shoulder: Army’s Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft

Killer Angel On Your Shoulder: Army’s Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft
Killer Angel On Your Shoulder: Army’s Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft

Manned air and ground forces would work together and protect each other along the front line, while relatively expendable drones and missiles go deep into enemy airspace.

Congress Divided On $75M For Army Scout Aircraft: Fly The Deadly Skies

Congress Divided On $75M For Army Scout Aircraft: Fly The Deadly Skies
Congress Divided On $75M For Army Scout Aircraft: Fly The Deadly Skies

WASHINGTON: Senate appropriators want to give the Army $75.4 million to kick-start its new scout aircraft, but key authorizers told us they are skeptical. (House appropriators are so far silent). The crucial questions: Can a manned, low-altitude, lightweight aircraft survive against the Russian threat? And can the Army afford the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA)…

Skeptics Ask: Can Army Field Armed Robots By 2024?

Skeptics Ask: Can Army Field Armed Robots By 2024?
Skeptics Ask: Can Army Field Armed Robots By 2024?

What mission does the Army really need armed robots for — expendable scouts, perhaps, or supplementary fire support? And does buying robots for that role really offer more tactical value than spending the same money on mundane upgrades to, say, self-propelled artillery?

DSD Work Embraces DARPA’s Robot Boat, Sea Hunter

DSD Work Embraces DARPA’s Robot Boat, Sea Hunter
DSD Work Embraces DARPA’s Robot Boat, Sea Hunter

This afternoon, Deputy Defense Secretary and robotics booster Bob Work will christen the largest unmanned surface vessel in history. At 130 feet long and not quite 140 tons displacement, DARPA’s Sea Hunter dwarfs previous robotic boats, giving it the ruggedness and fuel capacity, about 70 days’ worth, to cross oceans on its own power without a manned mothership. But…

Navy Refueling Drone May Tie Into F-35s

Navy Refueling Drone May Tie Into F-35s
Navy Refueling Drone May Tie Into F-35s

If you’re following the Navy’s new drone program, hold on to something. Keeping track of the various names of what used to be UCLASS and then became CBARS and is now the MQ-XX Stingray — or perhaps the MQ-25 — may make you as dizzy as keeping up with what the Navy plans to do with…

Robot Wars: Centaurs, Skynet, & Swarms

WASHINGTON: I haven’t seen the new Star Wars movie yet — no spoilers in the comments section, please — but its vision of high-tech warfare is already looking quaint. Always at heart a fairy tale in space, the series puts humans in the cockpit and on the front lines, with droids as adorable sidekicks. Meanwhile,…

Grey Eagle-Apache Run Shows Tech’s Not Enough; Ya Gotta Have Doctrine

Grey Eagle-Apache Run Shows Tech’s Not Enough; Ya Gotta Have Doctrine
Grey Eagle-Apache Run Shows Tech’s Not Enough; Ya Gotta Have Doctrine

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA.: Manned-Unmanned Teaming, when manned aircraft crews control drones from their cockpit, is a child of the drone revolution still in its infancy. So maybe it’s no surprise that Army Apache helicopter units with new AH-64Es equipped to control MQ-1C Grey Eagle armed drones have gotten off to a crawl rather than a run using…