What is a Wingman drone and how does fighter jets work? – Slashgear

Traditional fighter jets in hostile areas with wingmen to support each other during an operation, but the United States and other countries are heading for a new means to achieve this tactic. In the US, the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program develops specially designed Combat Drone Wingmen to collaborate with crews. These drone-wingmen are very capable, semi-autonomous combat aircraft designed to fly past aircraft such as the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II.

This is known as Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) and it represents the next step in Combat Aviation. In the US, several services work on the program, and recently the General Atomics YFQ-42 (photo) and YFQ-44A of Anduril were selected as the designs of the US Air Force for the CCA, and it is being developed with the aforementioned hunters in mind, as well as the upcoming air dominance (NGAD) fighter. While he flies along or near crew keys, a Wingman drone could perform a range of missions, including electronic warfare, surveillance and strike operations.

Because the program is being developed, multiple ways of control are considered; However, the aim of the program is to make CCAs completely autonomous while working together with crew members. Skyborg, the Software Cursor of the CCA, demonstrated the functional possibility of two test MQ-20 Avengers in 2021, which flew autonomously in a coordinated way while responding to commandos and staying in the designated geo-fences. The primary goal, apart from being a more powerfuler, is to reduce the risk for human pilots and maximizing the possibilities with replaceable aircraft.

Drones and other unmanned vehicles have been used for decades, with the technology that goes back to 1917. However, it took a lot of time for the technology to evolve into its current form. The 21st century has already proven that drones are the future of warfare in conflicts in the Middle East and in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Yet crews do not go somewhere quickly, and although AI is integrated into several platforms, the goal of the CCA to increase the combat force of traditional hunters, and the concept comes to bloom.

Multiple models of autonomous drone -wingmen are being developed all over the world and the US want to bring its first into operation within just a few years. Given the speed with which the development is advanced, that seems to be a foregone conclusion at the moment. The new hunter drones of the Air Force are the way of the future and are intended to fly for crews to involve goals.

This would actually keep the crew members safer, and during a mission to a disputed area, a CCA could eliminate enemy aircraft or air defenses. As soon as this happens, a crew members can arrive and deliver his load or perform his mission in comparative safety. For this reason, CCAs are designed with minimal maintenance and lifespan, because they are not intended to serve forever. Instead, they are intended to be replaceable, and just like earlier drones such as the MQ-1 Predator or MQ-9 Reaper, they have been reused for some time without concern about the safety of the pilot.

The General Atomics YFQ-42 and Anduril’s YFQ-44A (photo) are still under development from mid-2025, and there is not much information available about their possibilities, projected ordnance or sensors that they can wear. Some details have been revealed, including the fact that Anduril cooperates with the German Rheinmetall to produce his plane for European allies. General Atomics is also looking for this opportunity, so the US is not the only nation that looks at the field of Wingman drones in the future; It seems that NATO fellow people will also get that chance.

Although the technical details and general possibilities are currently unknown, these planes are designed to work in addition to some of the fastest and most robust 5th and future 6th generation hunters. To that end, they will probably have to match at least something like the speed and reach options of the F-35A. The F-35 has a cruising speed of Mach 0.86 (approximately 660 mph) and a maximum speed of Mach 1.6 (approximately 1,200 mph) with a range of 1,381 miles. It is likely that they will be armed with air-air missiles to switch on threats in the air, but they can wear air-to-ground missiles feasible.

Military observers have identified different visual elements of the designs and believe that some of the installed sensors include an aimed camera system and an infrared search and track sensor (IRST). The latter is useful, given the intended role, because Irst’s are used to find secret goals, making a CCA-air-air support role possible. It is also unclear how many CCAs can fly alongside a hunter, but regardless of their possibilities, it is likely that Wingman drones are the future of air fights.