Boeing's new autonomous fighter has a retractable and interchangeable nose

The first finished prototype of "Loyal Wingman". (Boeing /)

The most futuristic and problematic the fighter plane is the F-35, a very expensive plane that costs the Air Force about $ 82 million per person. Exorbitant prices like this, and other considerations, prompt aircraft manufacturers and the air force to think about ways to increase the number of combat aircraft that they own (planes in human flight) with smaller planes that have no one on board. .

The latest full-size prototype in this category comes from Boeing, and it's a 38-foot-long two-tail plane with no room for a human pilot. It is essentially a combat drone. But, instead of just navigating at high altitude and performing surveillance like a Global Hawk, the Boeing aircraft can perform much more dynamic movements. Although the aerospace company does not reveal too much detail, it says it will have a range of around 2,300 miles and "combat performance". The initial aircraft that the company unveiled is called the "Loyal Wingman" aircraft.

"It is designed to fly alongside and fight alongside other manned air platforms, whether combat, oil tankers, surveillance aircraft", Shane Arnott , who runs the Boeing. air power team work system programhe said in a video. The general idea with planes like these is that it is better to sacrifice a cheaper plane with no one on board, or to send that plane forward, in a more risky situation, to gather information or do something else, other than losing a manned plane like a fighter plane or an oil tanker.

"It is better for one of them to take a hit than an inhabited platform," said Arnott in a 2019 Reuters Report

when Boeing first announced the initiative and revealed a model.

The strangest feature is the nose, about 9 feet long from the plane, which comes off completely. An air force using this aircraft could easily swap the nose, which has an interior volume of approximately 52 square feet, with a new one for one with different equipment inside. This design choice "allows a customer to insert specific hardware and software and prepare this aircraft for a completely different mission in a short period of time," Arnott said in a statement sent by email.

The twin tails of the prototype. (Boeing /)

The drone has a traditional tricycle-style landing gear, like many other planes, which means it is designed to take off and land from a regular runway. This sets it apart from a very similar unmanned spaceship called Valkyrie, manufactured by Kratos. The Valkyrie, or XQ-58A, has the same general purpose as the Boeing Loyal Wingman, but is launched from a railroad, not from asphalt, and has a longer range about 1000 miles. The Valkyrie can cost around $ 3 million each. A price like this may seem like a lot, but keep in mind that even a relatively basic fighter plane, like an F-16, costs around $ 18.8 million in 1998 dollars, according to to the United States Air Force.

Boeing says the Loyal Wingman will take advantage of artificial intelligence to help it move through the sky. After all, there is no way that a human, busy controlling his own jet, has the cognitive bandwidth to actively and constantly control unmanned planes flying in formation alongside him at the same time. For this, these ships should be able to fly independently.

The type of code that allows multiple drones to fly alongside another plane and operate with a certain degree of autonomy should be very complex. Software called Auto-GCAS it already exists that it can detect if a fighter plane is going to crash on the ground; This can work if a pilot experiences a lethal phenomenon called GLOC (g-induced loss of consciousness) and then loses control of the plane.

An illustration of four loyal Wingman drones next to a piloted aircraft. (Boeing /)

But the Air Force Research Laboratory has also been working on more complicated software that could help detect and prevent mid-air collisions between planes flying in formation or practicing basic combat maneuvers, when ; they turn and fly towards each other. the other. "I would say it's not as mature as what we did with Auto-GCAS, but it's an area where we think we need to do a little research," said the general. Arnold Bunch, who heads Air Force Material Command. Popular science in January. That's because, he adds, "When we talk about how we're going to do it for pilots (pilots), you can also use similar technology in (autonomous) operations and things that would be associated, so there are even more reasons to do it this way. " In fact, this is the path that Boeing and Kratos are currently following; Lockheed Martin, who makes the F-35, also says it works in this space.