Air Force Eyes Autonomous Flight Tests in 2024

The U.S. Air Force’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposal allocates nearly $50 million to test an autonomous capability for F-16 aircraft.

Through Project Viper Experimentation and Next-generation Operations Model, the service branch aims to collect data on how human and machine pilots cooperate to inform the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, DefenseNews reported Saturday.

CCA is the Air Force’s plan to develop autonomous wingmen to fly alongside Navy and Air Force pilots.

The service branch also plans to spend $69 million to set up an experimental operations unit responsible for figuring out how CCA aircraft can support missions and how pilots can train to use them, reducing potential risks.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, a 2023 Wash100 winner, said at a Center for a New American Security event that Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat drones will serve as experimental vehicles for the program.

He added that CCAs need to be affordable, estimating that the aircraft could cost around one-quarter to one-third of an F-35, which amounts to between $20 million and $27 million.

Kendall said in November that the Air Force could amass more than its stated goal of 1,000 CCA aircraft.