Air Force a step closer to swarming enemy with low-cost drones - Dayton Business Journal: The U.S. Air Force is moving ahead with a program to develop a lower cost, more disposable unmanned aircraft.
Air Force Research Laboratory this week announced it would soon be taking proposals for a Low Cost Attritable Strike UAS Demonstration program. The work is expected to come with a $7.4 million contract.
The idea here is unmanned aircraft are currently too expensive to send on high-risk missions, such as in swarms to overwhelm enemy air defenses. Developing a lower-cost UAS that could be lost in large numbers would give the Air Force a completely new tactic — and big advantage — in the field.
Last fall, AFRL began asking for information on the topic of developing an inexpensive, configurable and producible on-demand air vehicle.
