Airbus has revealed its Wingman, an unmanned drone that works with and is commanded by a pilot in a fighter jet such as the Eurofighter.
Airbus’ Wingman is a fighter-type drone that would take on high-risk mission tasks that would pose a bigger threat to manned-only aircraft. Wingmen drones, which are also known as manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) drones. fly alongside and work with a manned fighter aircraft.
Airbus has presented a full scale model at the ILA Event in Germany of its Wingman drone this week to showcase its capabilities, such as low observability, the integration of various armaments, advanced sensors, connectivity and teaming solutions.
The Airbus Wingman could be tasked with missions including reconnaissance to jamming targets and engaging targets on the ground or in the air with precision guided munitions or missiles.
According to Airbus, the model serves as a foundation and catalyst to drive the design requirements for each generation of the Wingman.
Michael Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space said, “The German Air Force has expressed a clear need for an unmanned aircraft flying with and supporting missions of its manned fighter jets before the Future Combat Air System will be operational in 2040.”
“Our Wingman concept is the answer. We will further drive and fine-tune this innovation made in Germany so that ultimately we can offer the German Air Force an affordable solution with the performance it needs to maximise the effects and multiply the power of its fighter fleet for the 2030s.”
Pilots in manned aircraft acting as “command fighters” will always have control of the mission. They are always the final decision-making authority while benefiting from the protection and smaller risk exposure that the delegation of tactical taskings to unmanned systems offers.
An additional focus is on increasing the overall combat mass in an affordable manner so that air forces can match the number of opposing forces in peers or near-peers in conflicts.
Other wingman concepts in development include Boeing’s Ghost Bat, previously called the Loyal Wingman, which is being developed in Australia.
Airbus also announced it is working with German startup Helsing to develop the AI algorithms that the wingman concept would use.
Gundbert Scherf, Co-CEO at Helsing said, “From the processing of data from sensors over the optimization of sub-systems to closing the loop on system-level: software-defined capabilities and AI will be a critical component of the Wingman system for the German Air Force.”
