As of: April 4, 2024, 12:03 p.m
By: Marcus Giebel
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Should soon be able to take off unmanned: The US Air Force wants to convert several F16 jets into drones. © IMAGO / ZUMA Wire
The US Air Force is moving forward with its plans to build a drone fleet. Some F16 jets are also to be converted accordingly.
Washington – Drones have proven to be a precise and efficient weapon not only in the Ukraine war. Whether on water, on the ground or in the air. The advantage is obvious: the objects do not need to be manned, so if they are shot down or crashed, only material damage is usually caused. Nevertheless, drones can now be steered very precisely to their destination - even from greater distances.
USA converts F16 jets into drones: Tests begin at Air Force Base in Florida
Under the Florida sun, the US Air Force is now embarking on a very ambitious project. At Eglin Air Force Base, three F16 jets, which have recently been on everyone's lips because of their deliveries to Ukraine, are being converted into unmanned flying objects. Based on the F16 nickname Viper, the US Air Force speaks of the “Viper Experimentation and Next-gen Operations Model – Autonomy Flying Testbed” program. Or short: VENOM-AFT.
This program aims to test autonomous software in both manned and unmanned aircraft at a faster pace. Ultimately, the self-flying drones will go into combat in conjunction with manned fighters, as Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA).
According to
Defense News
, a portal that claims to target decision-makers in the global defense sector, the Air Force has 1,000 such CCAs in mind. However, the F16 jets only make up a negligible proportion of this. Up to six are to be converted accordingly.
Video: Ukraine's war technology is revolutionizing the front line - drones against Putin
USA plans to convert F16 jets into drones: “Climax of years of engineering work”
First, the autonomous capabilities of these fighter aircraft, also known as Fighting Falcon, will be assessed. Major Ross Elder, who leads the program's developmental testing, calls it "a critical chapter in the advancement of air combat capabilities." He continued: “We look forward to the culmination of years of engineering and collaboration as VENOM represents a measured step towards a new era of aviation.”
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The 40th Flight Test Squadron and the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron (TES) will also carry out the VENOM program tests and thus support the drone project. This pleases Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy Castor, who is in charge of operational testing: “The fact that both development test and operational test pilots work and fly at the same location enables daily collaboration and reduces the transfer of knowledge and lessons learned.”
Will F16 jets soon become drones? In the test phase “never without a human component” on the road
Pilots will sit in the cockpit during testing to monitor autonomous operations and ensure test objectives are met. Lieutenant Colonel Joe Gagnon, 85th TES commander, explains: "This means that a pilot is integrated into the autonomy in real time and has the ability to start and stop certain algorithms." During the VENOM phase, no aircraft will ever be " “without a human component”.
Developers receive feedback on possible improvements during modeling, simulation and post-flight. It's just a matter of not wasting any time. According to Gagnon, the development steps should be implemented “as quickly and safely as possible”. The goal is to “ensure that we get CCA flying as quickly as possible.”
Traveling late: These F16 jets fly in formation at dusk. © IMAGO / ZUMA Wire
USA converts F16 jets into drones: Project costs several billion US dollars
As
Defense News
reports, VENOM is budgeted at $50 million this year. A further seven million US dollars are requested for 2025, and between 6.1 and 6.6 million US dollars in the following years.
The DefenseScoop
portal
, which is dedicated to news about the US military, reported some time ago that the total budget for the drone program was six billion US dollars over five years. Frank Kendall, Secretary of the Air Force, estimates the cost of a CCA “in the order of, say, a quarter or a third of an F35.”
(mg)