Our life is full of mistakes
starting from eating unnecessary things as a kid to our first heartbreak. But
what if our mistake cost someone their life? On 27th February 2019 tensions
were high after IAF jets conducted airstrikes in Pakistan's Balakot on the 26th
and destroyed JEMs terror camps, which was in response to JEMs attack on
Indian convey that killed 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama on 14th February.
Pakistan tried to retaliate by sending fighter jets towards the Indian side.
Unfortunately, a Mi-17 helicopter, which went to involve in a dogfight with
Pakistani jets, was shot down by IAF's SPYDER (Surface-to-air Python and Derby)
air defense missile killing all 6 IAF personnel on board. Not only this, at least 20 air
force personnel were killed in air crashes from January to September 2019.
With rapid
development in AI and robotics technology, automation is at a tipping point.
Today, robots can perform a slew of functions without considerable human
intervention. Automated technologies are not only executing iterative tasks but
also augmenting workforce capabilities significantly.
And now Boeing (which is the second-largest defense contractor in the world based on 2018 revenue) is going
one step further by building ‘Loyal Wingman’, in collaboration with RAAF (Royal
Australian Air Force), which is a self-piloted warplane designed to work
together with human-piloted aircraft.
The autonomous plane is 11 meters (38 feet) long and clean-cut, with sharp angles
offset by soft curves. The look is quietly aggressive. It is designed to achieve
a range of 3704 km and will carry electronic warfare systems and sensor
packages for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions.
The aircraft
is also designed to operate as a swarm. Many of these autonomous fighters with
cheap individual sensors, for example, could fly in a “distributed antenna”
geometry, collectively creating a greater electromagnetic aperture than you
could get with a single expensive sensor. Such a distributed antenna could also
help the system resist jamming (transmitting additional radio signals towards
enemy receivers, making it difficult to detect real target signals).
The design
avoids angles that might reflect radar signals straight back to the source,
like a ball bouncing off the inside corner of a box. Instead, the design
deflects them erratically. Payloads are hidden in the belly. Of course, if the
goal is to trigger enemy air defense systems, such a plane could easily turn
unstealthy (can attract attention). The design benefits from the absence of a
pilot. There is no cockpit to break the line, nor a human who must be protected
from the brain-draining forces of acceleration.
The need to
balance capability and cost also affects how the designers can protect the
aircraft against enemy countermeasures. The Wingman’s stealth and
maneuverability will make it harder to hit with antiaircraft missiles that rely on impact to destroy their targets, so the most plausible countermeasures are
cybertechniques that hack the aircraft’s communications, perhaps to tell it to
fly home or electromagnetic methods that fry the airplane’s internal
electronics.
Boeing
Australia has concluded the major fuselage (the main body of an aircraft) structural
assembly for the prototype of the first Loyal Wingman aircraft and is planning
to conduct its first test flight later this year.
This year’s
test flights should help engineers weigh trade-offs between resilience and
cost. Those flights will also answer specific questions: Can the Wingman run
low on fuel and decide to come home? Or can it decide to sacrifice itself to
save a human pilot?
And at the heart of it all is the fundamental question
facing militaries the world over: Should airpower be cheap and expendable or
costly and capable?
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