The Unmanned Bomber - Have Raider II
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
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The Unmanned Bomber - Have Raider II
The Air Force Turned a F-16 Fighter into a Drone
The U.S. Air Force turned an F-16 fighter into an autonomous combat drone capable of flying combat missions on its own and then returning to fly alongside a manned aircraft. The program, known as "Have Raider II," could lead to older U.S. fighters acting as semi-disposable wingmen for more modern planes, conducting missions too dangerous for manned aircraft to carry out.
The program was recently validated after a two week exercise at Edwards Air Force Base involving the Air Force Research Lab, the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, Lockheed Martin, and Calspan Corporation, according to a press release by Lockheed Martin. During the exercises, the F-16 planned and executed an air strike according to "mission priorities and available assets." The F-16 also managed "dynamically react to a changing threat environment" while managing "capability failures, route deviations, and loss of communication".
The Have Raider program is part of the Air Force's Loyal Wingman project to create autonomous aircraft that are paired with manned aircraft and can take on delegated tasks. Have Raider I focused on having an F-16 autonomously leave its manned lead aircraft, conduct an air strike, then return to flying formation. Have Raider II went a step further, forcing the F-16's software make decisions based on operational parameters and then changing them as the situation was updated.
The program is broadly part of the Pentagon's Third Offset Strategy, which plans to use existing equipment in new ways to maintain a technological and numerical edge over countries such as China and Russia. The U.S. Air Force will shed more than a thousand F-16s as the F-35A enters service. While older, the F-16s have the advantage of being cheaper to fly and semi-disposable. In the future, Loyal Wingman could see a single F-35 accompanied by one or more autonomous F-16s on a strike mission. As the aircraft near the target, autonomous F-16s could be dispatched to take out advanced air defense systems. Survivors could then join up with the F-35 and proceed to strike the main target. Future wingmen could be purpose-built stealthy drones, but for now the Air Force has plenty of F-16s that are free, the only cost being to convert them to operate autonomously.
U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin Demonstrate Manned/Unmanned Teaming - Apr 10, 2017
The U.S. Air Force turned an F-16 fighter into an autonomous combat drone capable of flying combat missions on its own and then returning to fly alongside a manned aircraft. The program, known as "Have Raider II," could lead to older U.S. fighters acting as semi-disposable wingmen for more modern planes, conducting missions too dangerous for manned aircraft to carry out.
The program was recently validated after a two week exercise at Edwards Air Force Base involving the Air Force Research Lab, the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, Lockheed Martin, and Calspan Corporation, according to a press release by Lockheed Martin. During the exercises, the F-16 planned and executed an air strike according to "mission priorities and available assets." The F-16 also managed "dynamically react to a changing threat environment" while managing "capability failures, route deviations, and loss of communication".
The Have Raider program is part of the Air Force's Loyal Wingman project to create autonomous aircraft that are paired with manned aircraft and can take on delegated tasks. Have Raider I focused on having an F-16 autonomously leave its manned lead aircraft, conduct an air strike, then return to flying formation. Have Raider II went a step further, forcing the F-16's software make decisions based on operational parameters and then changing them as the situation was updated.
The program is broadly part of the Pentagon's Third Offset Strategy, which plans to use existing equipment in new ways to maintain a technological and numerical edge over countries such as China and Russia. The U.S. Air Force will shed more than a thousand F-16s as the F-35A enters service. While older, the F-16s have the advantage of being cheaper to fly and semi-disposable. In the future, Loyal Wingman could see a single F-35 accompanied by one or more autonomous F-16s on a strike mission. As the aircraft near the target, autonomous F-16s could be dispatched to take out advanced air defense systems. Survivors could then join up with the F-35 and proceed to strike the main target. Future wingmen could be purpose-built stealthy drones, but for now the Air Force has plenty of F-16s that are free, the only cost being to convert them to operate autonomously.
U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin Demonstrate Manned/Unmanned Teaming - Apr 10, 2017
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
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I'm intrigued on how they find the F-35 to rejoin. Either the F-35 emits or has to fly an incredibly precise course and speed - which seems highly unlikely in the envisaged combat situation.
And flying with F-16 wingmen does seem to be like self-defeating for a stealth aircraft.
And flying with F-16 wingmen does seem to be like self-defeating for a stealth aircraft.
If you don't want the F-16 back after a mission, let alone carrying reserves, it will fly a heck of a long way until tanks dry. Having one or 2 as wingmen would be the ultimate 'towed' radar decoy too.
Isn't a bunch of young Lieutenants much cheaper for this kind of duty.....except maybe for the autonomous decision making requirement?
ORAC,
"the only cost being to convert them to operate autonomously."
I can see that being another "porky" income stream for the lucky recipients of the Contract.
Me, sceptical?... nah!
f
"the only cost being to convert them to operate autonomously."
I can see that being another "porky" income stream for the lucky recipients of the Contract.
Me, sceptical?... nah!
f
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F-35's have a secure, very low probability of intercept datalink. A single micro data burst would inform the drone where and when to meet the F-35 and once in the designated area, the drone could use passive sensors to formate on the F-35. For that matter, a third party (say an orbiting tanker or AWACS aircraft) could tell both the F-35 and drone where and when to meet, so neither the F-35 nor the drone would need to transmit.
KenV - not familiar with the F35 comms suite but think most LPI link are 'aimed' (tight beam) so you'd need to know where the receiver it to hit him. You then have the cost of a receiver and computer to interpret the data transmission in the F16. Not sure what 'passive sensors' you could use to join? I guess maybe an IR missile head once close enough to detect the F-35 low heat trace? Having an orbiting 'controller' would be a bit of a give away something is going on. If you have the air superiority to park a big target in the sky, why use the expensive F-35 / F-16 combo for the attack - you could use any old previous generation bomber (we've got a few we could sell you 
)
To me this 'buddy' system looks like a 'solution' looking for a problem. It is almost as though someone has said "we can't get out UAV to operate fully autonomously so we need a mother-ship nearby" and the salesmen have gone "we can sell this as a concept"... (just my cynical view from working in industry now)
) To me this 'buddy' system looks like a 'solution' looking for a problem. It is almost as though someone has said "we can't get out UAV to operate fully autonomously so we need a mother-ship nearby" and the salesmen have gone "we can sell this as a concept"... (just my cynical view from working in industry now)
As a small aside could someone help. I've noticed that lots of USAF bombs and their associated equipment have the code/service words "Have" or "Pave" in front. Do these letters represent something or are they just code words?
The wiki page on Pave seems pretty good: seems like it was just a code word/program identifier for USAF electronic enhancements, although there are some references to several PAVE acronyms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAVE
Have seems to be code word for a range of USAF tactical exploitation (MiG's) and prototype programs.
Wonder if this could be a new lease on life on several high hour, but well maintained F-16's? Recent news was that Norway was planning to scrap theirs. And with the QF-16 program ramping up, there might be a less bit desire to blow them out of the sky for testing. Might put an extra premium on used aircraft.
