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Australian fighter pilots get a Boeing drone of their own
BEN PACKHAM
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE CORRESPONDENT
@bennpackham
New Australian-made combat drones will be able to operate in teams of 16 or more with a single manned fighter jet, offering cutting-edge capabilities to the RAAF and friendly nations.
The first of the semi-autonomous Loyal Wingman drone was unveiled by Boeing Australia on Tuesday, as part of a broader push by Western nations to counter growing Chinese investment in unmanned fighter platforms.
The Loyal Wingman prototype is the first military aircraft to be designed and built in Australia for 50 years.
The national security significance of the project was underlined by Scott Morrison, who said it would enable Australia to “protect our nation and our allies”. “It means Australia can sharpen its edge and prepare for the future,” the Prime Minister said.
The stealthy, 11.7m-long aircraft is due to undergo initial flight tests later this year, and be ready for production in the mid-2020s.
The relatively cheap drones will be able to fly ahead and engage the enemy, conduct electronic warfare or act as decoys to draw fire from manned aircraft, acting as a “force multiplier” for more expensive platforms such as the $115m Joint Strike Fighter.
They will be able to work with JSFs, Super Hornets, Growler electronic warfare jets and Wedgetail early warning and control aircraft.
“It’s designed to be a team of typically between two and four per (manned) aircraft … but also up to 16 or more, depending on the mission,” Boeing Australia’s Shane Arnott said.
The drone is said to have a range of 3700km — well above that of the JSF, which can only fly about 2000km without refuelling.
Defence has been reluctant to reveal the sorts of armaments or payloads the drones will carry, or the types of combat missions they will fulfil. But the head of air force capability, Air Vice-Marshal Catherine Roberts, said: “It is an air combat capability that we are looking at here.”
The drones will be built on automated production lines with advanced composite materials, allowing a much more rapid development cycle, Air Vice-Marshal Roberts said. “The key moving forward … is that very expensive and exquisite platforms take a long time to develop and they don't necessarily deal with the rapid change of threats.
“And what we are looking at here is to try and get ahead of the game in terms of having a capability that can be produced quickly and really rapidly adjust to the threats.”
The Morrison government has invested $40m in the development of the aircraft, which will have significant export potential.
The US and Britain were both taking a close interest in the development of the aircraft.
US Studies Centre research fellow Brendan Thomas-Noone said the Loyal Wingman offered smaller, hi-tech air forces like Australia’s the ability to add greater depth at relatively low cost. “You can put more bombs on them or add electronic warfare suites that can add to deception,” he said.
“There are all sorts of things the system can allow even one or two fighters to do. It just multiplies their ability to operate.”
Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior defence analyst Malcolm Davis said the drone was “a pretty impressive piece of hardware”, and predicted it could evolve into a larger aircraft in the future with the ability to fly further and carry greater payloads.
