Aviation strategists see the future of the military aviation in very close cooperation of advanced combat aircraft with human pilots who will accompany sophisticated drones. The theory is that the pilot of the plane would send the drones ahead, and thanks to advanced detection instruments, they could serve as scouts, but also carry modern weapons so that they can fight other aircraft and drones, or attack land or sea targets. The basis of such a drone could be a machine referred to as the XQ-67 in the US Air Force.
The XQ-67 is stealth and the Air Force is counting on it
There is not much information about the XQ-67 drone yet, and we can only go by photos and reports provided by the manufacturer General Atomics. According to them, it is a drone roughly corresponding to the size of a smaller fighter aircraft, and due to its shape it will most likely have stealth capabilities. Its exact dimensions, speed, and reach are not known; moreover, it is only a prototype, according to Wikipedia, which took off for the first time in February 2024.
The U.S. Air Force has already selected the drone for its Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, which aims to build a drone or family of drones to work with combat aircraft. General Atomics states in its report that the goal is to develop a low-cost, modular and unmanned aircraft equipped with advanced sensors or weapons that he will operate in teams cooperating with a new generation of combat aircraft. But the program is at the beginning and many tests will still be needed.
The XQ-67 will fly alongside the F-35 or B-21
The XQ-67 drone is expected to initially work mainly with Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft, but could also possibly accompany Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider bombers in a protective role. Twz reports that the drone was cheaper than, for example, the F-35 aircraft, because it would cost 480 to 645 million crowns. While that’s not a small amount and indicates that the drone will have a number of advanced technologies and capabilities, it’s about a quarter of what the F-35 costs. The Air Force could thus have hundreds, and perhaps even thousands, of these machines.
Advanced drones accompanying combat aircraft will certainly change the tactics of air warfare in the future. After all, they will take over many tasks from manned aircraft, thus considerably will reduce the risk of losing valuable trained pilots as well as expensive modern aircraft. And it will be much easier to replace them anyway. It can be assumed that the air force with more capable and advanced drones will be the force that will dominate the others in the air.
