{"id":62310,"date":"2022-10-13T18:29:26","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T18:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:45:14","slug":"us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force must build trust to add drone wingmen, report says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Air Force is all-in on the concept of drone wingmen<\/a> teamed up with human piloted fighters as the future of air combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how exactly will the human pilots inside F-35s or the Next Generation Air Dominance platform work with and guide collaborative combat aircraft<\/a>? And will these drone wingmen be ready to fight under their human pilots\u2019 instructions in a future war?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force needs must do more to lay the groundwork for human-machine interaction, Heather Penney, a former F-16 pilot and senior resident fellow for the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, wrote in a report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if those steps aren\u2019t taken soon, she said, drone wingmen<\/a> might not be fully trusted by the pilots flying alongside them and the concept of manned-unmanned teaming might not be as effective as it could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTeaming must be built in from the very beginning,\u201d Penney wrote in her paper \u201cFive Imperatives for Developing Collaborative Combat Aircraft for Teaming Operations.\u201d<\/a> \u201cThe effectiveness of CCA in combat will be primarily driven by how well they team with humans, not capabilities such as the weapons and sensors they carry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This must include making sure the human pilots can handle the tasks required to direct the autonomous or semi-autonomous wingmen and not get overwhelmed, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Operators also need to be brought into the process of developing drone wingmen early on, and given the tools they need to understand how they should perform in a fight, Penney wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pilots must be able to depend on the drones and trust their autonomous capability will work as intended, and make sure they can keep control over them even during rapidly shifting, chaotic battles, Penney said. And the teams of human pilots and drone wingmen need to be tailored based on the strengths of each, she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Great potential\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has made creating a fleet of drone wingmen teamed up with the F-35 and Next Generation Air Dominance platform a top priority, and said that a competition to create them is likely to come in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her report, Penney said that the CCA concept \u201chas great potential,\u201d and could even give the Air Force a decisive combat advantage in a war against an adversary such as China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Royal Australian Air Force has experimented with teaming drones up with piloted aircraft through its Loyal Wingman program, which uses Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat. The U.S. Air Force is interested in Australia’s experiments with the Ghost Bat as it considers how its own program will take shape. (Boeing Australia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If the Air Force fields them in enough numbers to make a difference, she said, they could increase the service\u2019s combat capability, create a force mix that is able to better weather losses in battle, and give theater commanders a reserve of aircraft that could be used to surge operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They could also give the Air Force the ability to stage more complex operations that could overwhelm an enemy\u2019s defenses, Penney wrote. These drones could be used to conduct airstrikes, jam enemy signals, conduct reconnaissance, or serve as decoys to distract enemy forces or lure out their air defenses, and tailored with a mix of sensors, weapons or other equipment to perform different missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the drones will need to have a mix of traditional software and machine-learning algorithms to guide its autonomous capabilities, she wrote, they will still need humans to direct them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the drawing board<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For that reason, Penney wrote, it\u2019s crucial that the Air Force focus on \u201chuman factors engineering,\u201d or how humans interact with the machines they work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means bringing warfighters into the process of developing CCAs as soon as possible, and working alongside software engineers, to shape how they will work in battle, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that doesn\u2019t happen \u2014 and so far, Penney said, it\u2019s largely not \u2014 the Air Force runs the risk of developing a CCA design that isn\u2019t as effective in battle as it could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCollaborative combat aircraft are meant to team with a human warfighter, yet, for the most part, warfighters are being left out of CCA development,\u201d Penney wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force can\u2019t wait until drone wingmen are fielded to flesh out how they will behave because the dynamics of how they will interact with humans have to be part of their programming, algorithm development, and training processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also remains to be seen exactly how pilots will direct their drone wingmen, Penney told reporters. So far, she said, industry is leaning toward voice commands instead of diverting the pilot\u2019s attention by tapping instructions on a tablet or display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voice control has its own complications that need to be worked out, she said, such as how to control multiple drones, how well it would work in battlefield environments, and whether the system would clearly understand what the pilot is trying to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSiri still doesn\u2019t understand me, right?\u201d Penney said. She said CCAs will probably need to have multiple methods of control for resiliency, so the pilot could switch to a different control system if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The human touch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Penney told reporters she doesn\u2019t favor having a second operator, apart from the pilot of a manned fighter, directing or sharing control of that fighter\u2019s drone wingman because that could lead to confusion and contradictory instructions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important that you don\u2019t split leadership of that formation,\u201d Penney told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autonomous or semi-autonomous drones could also operate \u201cuntethered\u201d to a particular manned aircraft, perhaps as part of a swarm, or as a network of electronic warfare aircraft controlled by an air battle manager. These air battle managers controlling the untethered CCAs could operate from a nearby E-7 Wedgetail or E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or JSTARS, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CCAs aren\u2019t going to take the place of human pilots, Penney said, since humans can improvise and adapt to get the job done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHumans will always have a cognitive advantage within the battlespace, in terms of making decision through uncertainty, relying on intuition, breaking rules and norms, and being able to use adaptive thinking from past life experience, and applying it in new and different ways,\u201d Penney said. \u201cAutonomy just simply is not going to be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Air Force is focused on manned-unmanned teaming as the future of air combat. How human pilots will control drone wingmen must be ironed out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":66296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-post-featured-layout","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":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news","left-column","home"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"4":{"categories":["your-air-force","news","left-column","home","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"your-air-force"},"9":{"categories":["unmanned-systems","newsletters","unmanned","robotics","uas","home"],"primary_category":"unmanned-systems"}}},"categories":[7,160,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3412],"class_list":["post-62310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"CK4S4QNTDZAZRPNKC7JCRZWJIQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"featured-layout","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\nAir Force must build trust to add drone wingmen, report says - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Air Force is focused on manned-unmanned teaming as the future of air combat. How human pilots will control drone wingmen must be ironed out.\" \/>\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=\"Air Force must build trust to add drone wingmen, report says\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Air Force is focused on manned-unmanned teaming as the future of air combat. How human pilots will control drone wingmen must be ironed out.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-13T18:29:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T00:45:14+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=\"5 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\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/13\\\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\\\/#article\",\n\t \"isPartOf\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/13\\\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\\\/\"\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\": \"Air Force must build trust to add drone wingmen, report says\",\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2022-10-13T18:29:26+00:00\",\n\t \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T00:45:14+00:00\",\n\t \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/13\\\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\\\/\"\n\t },\n\t \"wordCount\": 1068,\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\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/13\\\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/AF2.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\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/13\\\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\\\/#respond\"\n\t ]\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/13\\\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\\\/\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/13\\\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\\\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"Air Force must build trust to add drone wingmen, report says - 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\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/13\\\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/13\\\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/AF2.jpg.jpg\",\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2022-10-13T18:29:26+00:00\",\n\t \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T00:45:14+00:00\",\n\t \"description\": \"The Air Force is focused on manned-unmanned teaming as the future of air combat. How human pilots will control drone wingmen must be ironed out.\",\n\t \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/13\\\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\\\/#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\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/13\\\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\\\/\"\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\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/13\\\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/AF2.jpg.jpg\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/AF2.jpg.jpg\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/air\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/13\\\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\\\/#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\": \"Air Force must build trust to add drone wingmen, report says\"\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":"Air Force must build trust to add drone wingmen, report says - Defense News","description":"The Air Force is focused on manned-unmanned teaming as the future of air combat. How human pilots will control drone wingmen must be ironed out.","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":"Air Force must build trust to add drone wingmen, report says","og_description":"The Air Force is focused on manned-unmanned teaming as the future of air combat. How human pilots will control drone wingmen must be ironed out.","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/","og_site_name":"Defense News","article_published_time":"2022-10-13T18:29:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-08T00:45:14+00:00","author":"Stephen Losey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Stephen Losey","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"Air Force must build trust to add drone wingmen, report says","datePublished":"2022-10-13T18:29:26+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T00:45:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/"},"wordCount":1068,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AF2.jpg.jpg","articleSection":["Air Warfare","Daily News Roundup","Newsletters"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/","name":"Air Force must build trust to add drone wingmen, report says - Defense News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AF2.jpg.jpg","datePublished":"2022-10-13T18:29:26+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T00:45:14+00:00","description":"The Air Force is focused on manned-unmanned teaming as the future of air combat. How human pilots will control drone wingmen must be ironed out.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AF2.jpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AF2.jpg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2022\/10\/13\/us-air-force-must-build-trust-to-add-drone-wingmen-report-says\/#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":"Air Force must build trust to add drone wingmen, report says"}]},{"@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\/AF2.jpg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62310","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=62310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62317,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62310\/revisions\/62317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62310"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=62310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}