Airbus, MBDA team for remote carriers
Airbus and MBDA have teamed up to develop demonstrators for remote carriers as part of the Future Combat Air System programme.
Remote carriers are UAS which will be designed to reduce the risks for manned aircraft in high risk environments by taking over specific air operation roles, providing new air warfare capabilities.
MBDA will focus on the development of small and medium class platforms, while Airbus will address the whole remote carrier scope - and in particular teaming intelligence – with a focus on medium to large platforms.
Capable of cross platform mission management, the remote carriers will complement and augment manned fighter aircraft capabilities. They will operate with a high degree of automation to improve mission performance in high intensity conflicts, and increase combat mass to better compensate limited numbers of sophisticated manned fighter aircraft.
Several types of remote carriers are being studied, including expendable swarms possibly followed by more sophisticated groups, providing a wide scope of potential missions.
More from Uncrewed Vehicles
-
US Navy foresees an uncrewed future for its surface and underwater fleet
The service has been conducting various procurement and development efforts to integrate unmanned surface and underwater vehicles into its inventory.
-
Ready for the race: Air separation drone swarms vs. air defence systems
As the dynamics of aerial combat rapidly evolve, Chinese scientists have engineered a sophisticated air separation drone model that can fragment into up to six drones, each capable of executing distinct battlefield roles and challenging the efficacy of current anti-drone defences such as the UK’s Dragonfire laser system.
-
Israel’s MALE UAVs ‘must adapt’ to Iranian-made air defences
Advancements in air defence technologies have begun to reshape aerial combat dynamics in the Middle East, as illustrated by recent events involving the Israeli Air Force and Hezbollah.
-
Hundreds more UAS sent to Ukraine forces with thousands more on the way
Both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war have been using UAS for effective low-cost attacks, as well as impactful web and social media footage. Thousands more have now been committed to Ukrainian forces.
-
AI and software companies selected for US Army Robotic Combat Vehicle subsystems
The US Army has intentions to develop light, medium and heavy variants of the Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) as part of the branche’s Next Generation Combat Vehicle family.