Future of aerial combat: Loyal wingman to change how wars are fought in the air

Conversations about aerial combat revolve around fifth or sixth generation aircraft, stand-off weapons and air-to-air missiles. Now, a palpable shift is taking place in this conversation as Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) or loyal wingman are being developed as the next big thing in aerial combat. A CCA is an unmanned aircraft that is designed to fly alongside or ahead of a manned fighter to clear or map the area ahead of the fighter aircraft.These Artificial Intelligence (AI) equipped Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) can be autonomous or semi-autonomous aircraft whose aim will be to increase the combat effectiveness of fighter aircraft, at the same time the these aircraft will increase the survivability of the manned fighter aircraft. These aircraft will perform different roles ranging from clearing the airspace ahead of manned fighter, carrying out electronic warfare, act as a decoy and to bomb targets. These systems can work as a team with a group of different UCAVs performing different roles in a strike mission. In such a scenario a few platforms could clear air space by being configured in the air-to-air role while other systems can be configured for electronic warfare, suppression of enemy air defence and strike mission. All of this can be done without risking the life of a single pilot. Because of their AI enabled systems, missions can be planned in such a manner that if in case of strong jamming from the adversary, a pre-programmed mission can be carried out. Because of the relatively low cost of the aircraft they can be risked more readily by air strategists. Universally, these UCAVs are designed with stealth in mind. As they are low-observable on radar, they are more likely to operate in contested air space while manned fighters stay in relatively safe airspace. Thus reducing risks to pilots, while at the same time providing enough airframes in the air. Many countries around the world, including India, are working on their own CCA projects. In India, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is working on the Combat Air Teaming System (CATS). This unmanned system is being designed to fight alongside existing fighters such as the Tejas Mk-1A, Su-30 MKI and Jaguar, as well as future fighters such as the Tejas Mk-2 and India’s very own fifth-generation platform the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). This twin engine platform will using the domestically developed PTAE-7 powerplant, according to a report by The New Indian Express. Other countries developing such systems are the American XQ-58 Valkyrie under project Skyborg, the Chinese are working on the AVIC Dark Sword, France is working on the Neuron project, Germany on the Airbus Wingman, Russia on the Okhotnik, Australia on the MQ-28 Ghost bat, Turkey on the Anka-3, while Sweden and South Korea are working on their own separate projects.