U.S. Air Force's Semi-Autonomous Drone Conducts First Formation Flight

According to a report by Reference News on November 13, the U.S. Air Force's semi-autonomous drones have completed formation flying for the first time and executed air combat maneuvering operations, as reported by the Army Times website on November 10.

A recent announcement from Shield AI stated that the autonomous software guiding collaborative fighter aircraft enabled several collaborative fighters to complete "multi-aircraft" formation flying and execute beyond-visual-range air combat tactics.

The announcement did not specify the number of aircraft involved in the exercise on October 26, nor the specific model of the collaborative fighter.

Todd Wesley, Vice President of Shield AI, stated in the announcement, "We are excited that the integration of the aircraft with the mission systems has reached a new level."

The announcement noted that each flight generates data for software version iteration, supporting decisions related to testing and deployment.

Wesley indicated that the joint iteration process of the control software and onboard software has been refined to a certain extent, allowing the Air Force to update the software overnight after completing a flight and fly again the next day.

Prior to this demonstration, the U.S. Air Force had announced its goal to have 500 operational semi-autonomous combat systems by 2032, with a fleet size reaching 1,000 aircraft. The Air Force's budget request for fiscal year 2027 includes $996.5 million for the collaborative fighter program.

One month before Shield AI achieved this new milestone in the collaborative fighter program, an F-22 Raptor completed air tactical command and flight control of the YFQ-44A collaborative fighter, acting as an airborne command center and issuing high-level commands to this collaborative fighter manufactured by Anduril Industries. (Translated by Guo Jun)