The AI Loyal Wingman drone – the F-35’s loyal assistant

Australia for a long time already wants to crack the global arms trade and grab a piece of that cake. And now, it seems, it’s on the way to doing just that. Australia is successfully developing the world’s most sophisticated Drone – the Loyal Wingman – and a month ago rolled out 3 prototypes. Although it’s not alone, as the US Air Force Research Lab is developing the Valkyrie (but more on that beneath). The first actual flight test is going to be in 2021, just before the Avalon Air show.

The Loyal Wingman is the world’s next-generation drone and is being developed, specifically, by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Boeing Australia. It’s mostly AI-run and classified as a “stealthy” UCAV with additional “fighter jet capabilities”- not only bombing. However, what its exact abilities are, for now, still under wraps. It’s intended to be part of a swarm pack of 5-6 drones escorting planes and assisting them in their missions.

Loyal Wingman Drone – a Swarm pack force multiplier for manned jets

The Loyal Wingman Drone swarm pack will be to be a real force multiplier for each plane it escorts. How? Each drone in the pack will assist the “mother plane” in a different specific way- navigation, electronic warfare, communications, intelligence, surveillance and even in bombing targets. Meaning, for example, a drone escorting a manned F-16 or F-35 can give it a longer radar range, better navigation or stronger jamming electronic warfare capabilities, for example – than those abilities the plane already has. And all the pack together, each drone with its ability, upgrades the plane’s abilities WITHOUT needing an additional manned plane. Just send the swarm pack and you have a longer, better, stronger plane that can do more with LESS risks.

The revolution – cheap but effective

But why not one drone with ALL the abilities or simply an additional plane, instead of this swarm pack? That is where the real revolution comes in – cost-effectiveness and added value against the other options. Each Loyal Wingman should cost around 2 million a pop. Add five of these, which is the planned swarm size per plane, and it’s a 10 million USD for a real force multiplier upgrade per plane. That instead of adding an additional manned unit for example – like an 82 million USD for an additional F-35 or 50 million for an F-16. And a single drone with all those same abilities would cost north of 20 million.

And of course, drones like drones, are unmanned so they can take bigger risks without endangering the pilot like a riskier bombing or surveillance flights in anti-aircraft infested areas. However, and just as important – and frankly maybe even more, is because of their almost expendable price. Global PC trends may make senior military brass deny it all it wants, but cost sometimes does supersede human life. 82 million USD for an F-35 unit is just as important, and probably more, than the life of the pilot who operates it.

Each drone that specializes in one of those specific different enhanced capabilities above, houses it in its frontal nose cone. And each cone has a capacity of 9000 cubic feet for the specific technical hardware. So if the operators want drone X to be the navigation drone they put the navigation hardware in the cone. And a cone can be swapped with a different cone with different abilities in a split second and preloaded with different capabilities to streamline operations.

The Pilot gives orders – The swarm drone executes alone

Unlike other classical drones, like Heron or Reaper, these drones are not controlled by a ground operator but actually by the mother plane they escort. However, and also unlike classical drones, the pilots don’t DIRECTLY operate them but rather only give them general tactical orders. Orders like bombing a certain target or collecting intel over a certain area – the rest the drone does ITSELF with its built-in AI.

The project’s name is Airpower Teaming System and the drones are the central component of it. The program is advancing in lightning speed as it started 15 months ago. But the really interesting question is why Australia? And since when and for what is it making cutting edge arms? Simple – job creation.

Australia seems jealous and wants a crack in the global arms trade

So back in 2017, Australia’s under Malcolm Turnbull decided it wanted to become a top arms exporter. It simply identified arms trade as one of the world-leading trade growth markets. Who can “blame” him? With all the instability and civil wars around the world, especially the middle east and Africa.

But then Australia only had, according to the Stockholm Peace research institute, a 0.3% slice of the global arms trade pie (compared to Israel, which had 8% share of the global cake, for example). So the government set aside 27 million USD and kick-started its industry. But it will be tricky because Australia, like Sweden, doesn’t have any enemies or any need for an arms industry. Yet Sweden, surprisingly, actually has a very developed arms industry including one of the few countries to have a fighter jet (the Griffin). So the Australian government thought, rightfully so, why not us also.

Open architecture design

The system itself, not only in the nose cone, is open architecture. What that means is that other parts from other manufacturers and from other nations can replace the original parts. And the drone itself, when operational, can also fly with other planes, NOT only Boeing planes, but also other aircrafts without complex integration or software installation. Both the above means the drone is versatile and Boeing and Australia can easily export it. And that’s what it’s all about, after all – Export, jobs and money.

The 3 prototypes were NOT hand built but rather built on a specially designed production line. And the production line itself is proof of concept and will be the line the drones will be made on. Normally prototypes are hand-built, and only after approved they build the production lines.

Unlike classical aerial prototypes, these 3 prototypes were not just frame, but also includes the software, user interfaces, sensors, data-links, and etc. And the testing and development was on simulators or a virtual model which, according to the drive, is the most advanced Boeing has ever built. The virtual models professional name is digital twin, which is an identical copy of what the real drone would be. It is a 3D print of the drone print right out of the software but without the engine or flying capability. Just to test the inner systems like AI, navigation and etc.

787 Dreamliner material

The drones range is 2300 miles and is 38′ long and is made of two composite pieces which were built with a resin-infusion process, the same process they used in the 787 Dreamliner. It’s has a “chin” and a V-shape tail and the air intake being an S-shaped

Even though it’s classified as “stealthy”, it is not totally stealth like the F-35 and has a higher radar signature. The reason is cost – to keep its cost low that’s one aspect they sacrificed. Another one is the drone having only one unique ability (Navigation, EW, intelligence and etc.) stored in a replaceable nose cone instead of numerous. A cheap price for an arms system today is actually one of the QUALITIES of the system. Just like its range, power, lethality, AI and etc. And NOT just a price point to make the buyer get it. Ironically the cheaper it is, in some cases, the MORE it is worth. The Soviet Union in WWI taught the world the cheap is NOT necessarily bad – it means you can buy more and win the battle. So, for this system at least, having a cheap system means it’s worth more.

Loyal Wingman VS the USAF Valkyrie

The only other similar drone built right now is the USAF experimental drone, the Valkyrie. It is unclear what the differences are as both keep most of their specs under wraps. One difference we know of is that it’s the Loyal Wingman should take off and land on a runway and NOT with a monorail and net and has a tricycle landing gear. It was also leaked that the Valkyrie’s range is a bit longer and probably will be more expensive. It seems US defense brass is basically developing both drones, either directly with the Valkyrie or indirectly with Australia. Eventually, whichever is better or reaches maturity first the USAF will pick. Or possibly both drones will combine technologies from both to create a single drone eventually or technology from one drone will be incorporated into the other.

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