Air Force Special Operators Developing Drone-Launched Swarms
5/3/2024
By Josh Luckenbaugh
Air Force Special Operations Command is taking advantage of “significant advancements” in autonomous aircraft technology to have their drones do a lot more than the traditional counterterrorism missions.
One concept will transform its MQ-9 medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned systems from surveillance aircraft to motherships that can dispatch smaller drones to perform a variety of missions.
The Adaptive Airborne Enterprise, or A2E, is a major part of that transformation, said its program director Col. Trey Olman.
The goal of the program is to take advantage of the “significant advancements” in automation and unmanned systems in recent years “to bring some new opportunities and capabilities to bear for AFSOC and for the DoD,” Olman said in an interview.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2024/5/3/air-force-special-operators-developing-drone-launched-swarms
