India pursuing this new category of unmanned aircraft, called Loyal Wingman or an adjunct aircraft that takes the capabilities of crewless aircraft even further and beyond the existing ones.
Loyal Wingman is a low-cost, pilotless aircraft with adequate flight capabilities and intelligence to assist crewed and highly developed fighter jets in combat.
The idea, which has only been used by a few nations so far, operates on the following tenet: a crewed fighter jet is partnered with a squadron of capable but uncrewed low-cost, attritable aircraft.
Each unmanned aircraft can fly ahead of its crewed counterpart and carries a payload tailored for that task, such as sensors, weapons, or electronic warfare equipment.
These Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) can also be employed as inexpensive decoys to confuse enemy fighter aircraft and help identify and overcome their air defenses.
The India’s own Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) revealed in March 2022 that it was developing a loyal wingman drone for India’s fifth-generation Advance Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) fighter jet.
The project is known as the Combat Air Teaming System (CATS) ‘Warrior.’
The United States, on the other hand, is working on the XQ-58A Valkyrie drone, a loyal wingman drone designed to work with manned fighters.
The prototype of the drone took its maiden flight in 2019. Later, in 2021, the US Air Force tested two Skyborg autonomy core system-equipped drones flying in tandem.
Russia is not far behind. Moscow announced in September 2019 that a Su-57 fifth-generation combat aircraft and an S-70 Okhotnik unmanned aerial vehicle had completed a test flight.
Later in 2020, the Russian military contractor Kronstadt Group unveiled the Grom uncrewed combat aerial vehicle to work alongside the Su-35 and Su-57 planes.
However, China is tight-lipped on developing a similar loyal wingman uncrewed aircraft, leading to the suspicions among military experts worldwide that it would potentially spring a surprise.
The comment hinted at a ‘loyal wingman’ concept which many believe India is already pursuing.
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