Most people might know Boeing from the airplanes that they fly in but the company does make other kinds of airplanes as well. The company has shown off an autonomous fighter jet which is now expected to take flight in 2020. The autonomous aircraft has been designed to fly alongside piloted fighter jets to perform intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance as well as early warning tests.
The company calls this jet the Boeing Airpower Teaming System and it’s aimed at reducing some of the risk in combat situations. There would be no question of a pilot casualty if one of these jets were to be shot down.
Moreover, it will also be able to fly for longer periods when there’s not a human behind the proverbial wheel. It could even withstand higher g-force, thus overcoming the limitations that prevent human pilots from pushing their jets to the absolute limit.
As you can probably expect, Boeing hasn’t revealed a lot of details about this project right now. It does say that the Airpower Teaming System is going to cost a “fraction” of a manned fighter jet. Boeing will be looking to sell the jet to customers across the globe and will modify it based on the customers’ demand.
Filed in . Read more about Boeing. Source: boeing.mediaroom