{"id":51267,"date":"2023-05-11T15:47:38","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T15:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:30:16","slug":"us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"US Air Force wants drone wingmen to bring \u2018mass\u2019 airpower on a budget"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 If the Air Force has to fight a major adversary such as China in years to come, a top general said, it must bring \u201cmass\u201d in its airpower \u2014 without breaking the bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But piloted fighters alone won\u2019t be enough to maintain the United States\u2019 prized air superiority, Lt. Gen. Richard Moore<\/a>, deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, said in an interview with Defense News. Key aircraft in its fleet such as the F-15C are rapidly aging, and the service is on track to retire more than twice as many fighters as it buys over the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why Moore said it\u2019s vital for the Air Force to build and field a planned fleet of at least 1,000 drone wingmen<\/a> to augment its piloted fighter fleet. And the service is working to pull together industry ideas for so-called collaborative combat aircraft and its own experiments<\/a> to figure out how to make this a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe picture here is changing, and what\u2019s changing the picture is CCAs,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has made it clear creating CCAs is one of his top priorities, and the service is starting to sort out the details of how it will fold drone wingmen into its fleet and use them in a future conflict. In March, Kendall said he ordered the service\u2019s planners to assume the Air Force will have 1,000 CCAs, though the final number could differ from that estimate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key lawmakers this spring aired their concerns to top Air Force leaders about the state of the Air Force\u2019s fighter fleet and its plans for fighters in years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a March 29 hearing of the House Armed Services subcommittee on tactical air and land forces, Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Virginia, pointed to Air Force plans to divest 801 fighters by 2028 while bringing on less than half that with 345 F-35s and F-15EXs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moore said in that hearing most aircraft slated for retirement are F-15Cs and A-10 Warthogs, along with some older and less capable F-22s and F-16s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force\u2019s F-15C and D Eagles are rapidly aging, as their withdrawal from Kadena Air Base, Japan<\/a>, in recent months has shown, and their numbers are dwindling. The service\u2019s planned Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter platforms won\u2019t arrive until the end of the decade, at best, and will be very pricey, with each system expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. And while the Air Force continues to bring on more F-35As, the service has cut its original plans to purchase 144 F-15EXs down to 104.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wittman, the subcommittee\u2019s chairman, warned continuing on such a \u201cglide slope,\u201d while key adversaries such as China continue to invest in fighter airpower, could turn America into a mere \u201cregional power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moore said that CCAs will be vital to delivering the kind of airpower that will be necessary to face off against a nation with a military comparable to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But trying to reach that level of airpower with crewed fighters alone would be prohibitively expensive, Moore said, prompting the Air Force\u2019s turn to drone wingmen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to come up with a way to create affordable mass, and that\u2019s where CCAs came in, and that\u2019s why the numbers are so high,\u201d Moore said, referring to plans envisioning a 1,000-drone fleet. \u201cYou can\u2019t just talk about F-35s, and F-15Es, and F-15EXs and F-16s, and call that the enterprise. You have to add CCAs in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the service\u2019s proposed budget for 2024 requests money to make that planning a reality. The service asked for nearly $50 million to start a program called Project Venom that aims to refine autonomous software of the kind that could fly CCAs, and $69 million to launch an Experimental Operations Unit where officials would start developing the tactics and procedures to incorporate CCAs into a squadron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Industry ideas for CCAs<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Moore said that the experimental unit will take advantage of the Air Force\u2019s novel acquisition approach for CCAs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually, he explained, the Air Force first spells out a program\u2019s requirements to industry, which will then come up with something that meets those requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Project Venom would build on the Air Force’s previous work testing autonomous software on the X-62A VISTA, or Variable In-flight Simulator Aircraft, at Edwards Air Force Base in California. (Alex Lloyd\/Air Force)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But this time, Moore said, Kendall deliberately told the Air Force not to start by spelling out requirements, and instead to ask industry what was possible. And the Experimental Operations Unit will take companies\u2019 ideas and explore them further, Moore said, figuring out how to incorporate them into day-to-day squadron operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moore said the Air Force expects to have concrete ideas from vendors on the attributes of CCAs within a few years, maybe sooner \u201cif we get lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service will then start experimenting with drone prototypes and determine what level of autonomy is possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat will be fundamentally a part of the employment concept as well,\u201d Moore said. \u201cIf they\u2019re truly autonomous, if we can get there, then that opens up some additional possibilities. If they are somewhat autonomous, then that would lead you more to a \u2018loyal wingman\u2019 concept, or CCAs being part of a formation with manned fighters. We\u2019ll just have to see how that plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project Venom, in which autonomous software will be installed in six F-16s for experimentation, will help shape the course of those future experiments on industry aircraft, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there are many questions that still need to be sorted out once the Air Force has industry\u2019s ideas in hand, Moore said. For example, will CCAs be an integral part of a squadron and deploy together, or will they be a separate unit that deploys on their own? Will they launch from the same bases as crewed fighters or from different locations?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are questions that don\u2019t yet have answers, because we don\u2019t yet know the attributes of the CCA that will come,\u201d Moore said. \u201cWe\u2019ll work all that out as those attributes begin to crystallize. And I think the answers will become relatively obvious based on the airplanes, but we don\u2019t have them yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some drones could have multiple applications ranging from strike, intelligence collection or jamming, for example. \u201cThe one that we\u2019re focusing on first is the ability for CCAs to augment the manned fighter force as shooters, so that\u2019ll be first,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for industry interest, some of the combat aviation segment\u2019s largest companies have already expressed interest, including Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Kratos and General Atomics, according to Moore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we see multiple pathways to what we\u2019re trying to get to,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s only one pathway, and we\u2019re not dependent on a single company.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Air Force plans to collect industry’s ideas for creating drone wingmen and use them to flesh out how it might use collaborative combat aircraft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":113353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,160,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3412],"class_list":["post-51267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"G6LO5JIPKFBPFJ6BVU7J3XKZ6E","arc_canonical_url":"\/unmanned\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\nUS Air Force wants drone wingmen to bring \u2018mass\u2019 airpower on a budget - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Air Force plans to collect industry's ideas for creating drone wingmen and use them to flesh out how it might use collaborative combat aircraft.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Air Force wants drone wingmen to bring \u2018mass\u2019 airpower on a budget\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Air Force plans to collect industry's ideas for creating drone wingmen and use them to flesh out how it might use collaborative combat aircraft.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-11T15:47:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T18:30:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephen Losey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stephen Losey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t \"@graph\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/11\\\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\\\/#article\",\n\t \"isPartOf\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/11\\\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\\\/\"\n\t },\n\t \"author\": {\n\t \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t },\n\t \"headline\": \"US Air Force wants drone wingmen to bring \u2018mass\u2019 airpower on a budget\",\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2023-05-11T15:47:38+00:00\",\n\t \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T18:30:16+00:00\",\n\t \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/11\\\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\\\/\"\n\t },\n\t \"wordCount\": 1174,\n\t \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t \"publisher\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/11\\\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Boeing-Loyal-Wingman-taxis.jpg.jpg\",\n\t \"articleSection\": [\n\t \"Air Warfare\",\n\t \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t \"Newsletters\"\n\t ],\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t \"target\": [\n\t \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/11\\\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\\\/#respond\"\n\t ]\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/11\\\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\\\/\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/11\\\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\\\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"US Air Force wants drone wingmen to bring \u2018mass\u2019 airpower on a budget - Defense News\",\n\t \"isPartOf\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t },\n\t \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/11\\\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/11\\\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Boeing-Loyal-Wingman-taxis.jpg.jpg\",\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2023-05-11T15:47:38+00:00\",\n\t \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T18:30:16+00:00\",\n\t \"description\": \"The Air Force plans to collect industry's ideas for creating drone wingmen and use them to flesh out how it might use collaborative combat aircraft.\",\n\t \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/11\\\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t },\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t \"target\": [\n\t \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/11\\\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\\\/\"\n\t ]\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/11\\\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Boeing-Loyal-Wingman-taxis.jpg.jpg\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Boeing-Loyal-Wingman-taxis.jpg.jpg\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2023\\\/05\\\/11\\\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t \"itemListElement\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 1,\n\t \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 2,\n\t \"name\": \"Air Warfare\",\n\t \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/\",\n\t \"ad_zone\": \"air\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 3,\n\t \"name\": \"US Air Force wants drone wingmen to bring \u2018mass\u2019 airpower on a budget\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t \"description\": \"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News\",\n\t \"publisher\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t },\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t \"target\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t },\n\t \"query-input\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t }\n\t }\n\t ],\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\",\n\t \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t \"logo\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t \"caption\": \"Defense News\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t }\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\",\n\t \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t },\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"US Air Force wants drone wingmen to bring \u2018mass\u2019 airpower on a budget - Defense News","description":"The Air Force plans to collect industry's ideas for creating drone wingmen and use them to flesh out how it might use collaborative combat aircraft.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"US Air Force wants drone wingmen to bring \u2018mass\u2019 airpower on a budget","og_description":"The Air Force plans to collect industry's ideas for creating drone wingmen and use them to flesh out how it might use collaborative combat aircraft.","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/","og_site_name":"Defense News","article_published_time":"2023-05-11T15:47:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-08T18:30:16+00:00","author":"Stephen Losey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Stephen Losey","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"US Air Force wants drone wingmen to bring \u2018mass\u2019 airpower on a budget","datePublished":"2023-05-11T15:47:38+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T18:30:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/"},"wordCount":1174,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Boeing-Loyal-Wingman-taxis.jpg.jpg","articleSection":["Air Warfare","Daily News Roundup","Newsletters"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/","name":"US Air Force wants drone wingmen to bring \u2018mass\u2019 airpower on a budget - Defense News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Boeing-Loyal-Wingman-taxis.jpg.jpg","datePublished":"2023-05-11T15:47:38+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T18:30:16+00:00","description":"The Air Force plans to collect industry's ideas for creating drone wingmen and use them to flesh out how it might use collaborative combat aircraft.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Boeing-Loyal-Wingman-taxis.jpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Boeing-Loyal-Wingman-taxis.jpg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2023\/05\/11\/us-air-force-wants-drone-wingmen-to-bring-mass-airpower-on-a-budget\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Air Warfare","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/","ad_zone":"air"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"US Air Force wants drone wingmen to bring \u2018mass\u2019 airpower on a budget"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","name":"Defense News","description":"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization","name":"Defense News","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","caption":"Defense News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Defense News","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews","push-errors":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Boeing-Loyal-Wingman-taxis.jpg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51271,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51267\/revisions\/51271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51267"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=51267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}