An unmanned fighter aircraft being developed by the U.S. Air Force flew alongside existing stealth fighters.
The UAV XQ-58A Valkyrie (center) is in flight with the F-22 Raptor (front) and the F-35 Lightning II, which are manned stealth fighters. [사진 미 공군]
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16th US Air ForceAccording to the report, on the 9th (local time), the UMA XQ-58A Valkyrie completed a test flight with stealth fighters, the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II, at the U.S. Army Performance Evaluation Test Center (YPG) in Yuma, Arizona. The XQ-58 is an unmanned aerial vehicle being developed by Cretos of the United States with the Air Force. It can also fly autonomously with artificial intelligence. The first flight was successful in March last year.
The purpose of the test flight on the 9th was to see if the XQ-58 properly relayed the communication between the F-22 and the F-35. Stealth fighters use LPI cryptographic data links to prevent them from being caught by enemy radars, as well as their communications. However, the F-22 and F-35 cannot exchange battlefield information with each other because the encryption data link system is different.
That’s why the XQ-58 was equipped with a repeater to exchange data links between the two manned stealth fighters. In this day’s test flight, the XQ-58 checked all 18 performances, of which nine worked out. US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Kate Stowe evaluated that the test flight was not successful because communication was interrupted.
However, there is no disagreement that the U.S. Air Force is preparing to deploy a drone step by step and is cruising. Ryu Seong-yeop, a research fellow at the 21st Century Military Research Institute, explained, “The US Air Force is conducting a test flight by attaching an appropriate module to the XQ-58 according to the mission.”
The U.S. Air Force intends to assume the role of the XQ-58 covering manned stealth fighter jets, first entering the danger zone for reconnaissance or eliminating hazards such as radar and air defense weapons.
The ultimate goal is air-to-air combat. In August, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under the US Department of Defense also held an air-to-air simulation battle competition between fighter pilots and AI. AI competed against veteran fighter pilots with more than 2000 hours of flight time at the time and won a 5-0 victory.
Reporter Lee Cheol-jae [email protected]
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