It is no secret that Lockheed Martin’s F-35 summer was not the best of all. After the plane stranded for a month In India, the reverse from Spain to an order (to which they have added other countries), A second breakdown of a hunt, this time in Japan, and a report that questioned the plane and its sophisticated software Because of the iceyou could say that the storm has passed.
In fact, the United States has a message: F-35 will be more Powerful that never.
The technological commitment. Yes, Lockheed Martin has undertaken a decisive leap in the evolution of the F-35 Lightning II by incorporating advanced capabilities of Enjambres control of drones through artificial intelligence. With an investment of about 100 million dollars in programs such as The career projectthe company seeks to transform hunting not only into a versatile and furtive combat plane, but an authentic Air Command Center capable of directing unmanned vehicles in recognition, electronic warfare or coordinated attacks.
The objective: maintain American aerial supremacy against increasingly complex threats, betting on synergy between manned aircraft and autonomous systems in a network combat ecosystem.
Synergy Man -Machine and Remote Control. The integration of AI allows the F-35 to communicate In real time With drones, processing a lot of volumes of data and making instant decisions that extend their operational scope far beyond their own sensors. In recent tests It was checked That an F-35 could directly control a drone, which opens the door to operations in which the plane can “see” and attack objectives through intermediary platforms without putting the pilot at direct risk.
Moreover, Lockheed proposes that F-35 itself have An optional mode not manned, which would reduce costs compared to the development of a sixth generation hunting from scratch and allowed to take advantage of the cells already produced with greater degree of autonomy.
The autonomous era. The F-35 was born from the program Joint Strike Fighter which in 2001 granted the victory to Lockheed against Boeing. Since then it has evolved in three variants (F-35a of conventional takeoff, F-35b of short takeoff and vertical landing, and F-35c embarked) and has become a key piece of several branches of the US and Allied armed forces.
This 2025 is expected to deliver Up to 190 unitswhich reflects the magnitude of the program and the confidence of the company in its long -term validity. However, the complexity of the system raises risks, as evidenced by the Incident in Alaska in which a pilot had to eject after almost an hour of solution attempts with Lockheed engineers, and that underlines the need for exhaustive tests before displaying large -scale autonomous capabilities.
The integrated air dominance vision. The weight of these developments lies greatly in the Skunk Works division of Lockheed, which raises a concept of “Integrated air dominance” in which the F-35 will benefit from sixth generation technologies, including advanced autonomy, interoperability with swarms and improvements of furtiveness.
Associated companies such as Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems strengthen the capacities in electronic warfare and surveillance, expanding the network of connected functions. Sector analysts interpret this strategy as A calculated movement in front of rivals like Boeing, especially after loss of a contract of new generation fighters, and as a way of presenting the F-35 as a bridge to completely autonomous fleets.
DRON VECTIS
The birth of Vectis. It is the device that explains the U-35 update. Skunk Works has presented these days DRON VECTISa large non -manned air combat system (Group 5) conceived under philosophy Agile Drone Framework. The framework prioritizes modularity, interoperability and rapid adaptability against changing threats, so that the vectis is not defined by a closed hardware, but by its ability to integrate Useful loads, control architectures and diverse missions according to the needs of each operator.
The name, of Latin origin, refers to the “lever” that the system represents to multiply air power. Your first prototype is expected to fly in a two -year periodafter having surpassed Skunk Works his initial proposal “too sophisticated” that was out of the first phase of the program Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) of the United States Air Force.
Furtive design The revealed images They show a drone without queue, air inlets mounted on the top, tilted nose line and an S duct that reduces the radar and infrared firm. Its exact dimensions have not been published, although it is known that it is less than an F-16 but greater than the CMMT missile drones of Lockheed herself.
The Vectis is designed to operate from conventional clues, although with a view to a future in which it can adapt to austere environments or dispersed bases under concepts such as AGILE COMBAT EMPLOYMENT (ACE). Its architecture allows compact radars, infrared sensors, electronic war systems or retransmission packages to be installed, in addition to carrying air-air and air-surface missiles from internal wineries. In addition, it does not seek to reach supersonic speeds, but Prioritize rankinessresistance and multimisional flexibility.
Accompanying hunting. As we said before, the vectis is fully integrated with fifth and sixth generation platforms, as the F-22 and F-35that they can exercise Control nodes To direct dwarfs. In fact, simulations already made show the ability to use it In air defense missionssuppression of anti -aircraft defenses, intelligence, surveillance and recognition.
Its open mission architecture, aligned with Washington’s reference standards, allows compatibility with multinational systems and opens the door to use by US allies. Lockheed underlines The importance of intuitive control interfaces, such as touch screens, so that pilots can order maneuvers or armament throws without overloading their workload. The system is designed to fly daily in training, but also to be stored and deployed on demandwhich provides logistics and strategic flexibility.
Challenges and the future. The development of an F-35 capable of Direct drone swarms advanced Like the Vectis Raise strategic and ethical questions about the level of acceptable autonomy in war operations. Meanwhile, the logic of the pentagon of moving towards the war in network supports the need for man -machine hybrids that reduce human risks and multiply the effectiveness in disputed scenarios.
Budget pressure and urgency by Maintain superiority Aerial drives Lockheed to reinvent a program that could be extended until the 2040s. With the current experiments under the umbrella of the career projectthe company is not limited to updating an airplane: it aims to redefine the very nature of air combat, placing F-35 as the axis of a future era of autonomous interoperability.
Image | Lockheed Martin
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