The discovery of gunpowder in the ninth century and the invention of the atomic bomb in the twentieth century may be considered the first two revolutions in warfare. The third revolution in warfare is Artificial Intelligence (AI), the branch of computer sciences that is engaged in the development of intelligence machines i.e. those that could think and function like human beings. AI has gained enough prominence in military spheres by way of autonomous weaponry on land, sea, air, space and cyber domains to be considered as a breakthrough that militaries around the world are scampering to exploit so as to dominate, or at least gain an advantage over, potential or existing adversaries. Air power, from the days of Douhet, concerns air supremacy; that is to say, it aims at possessing the capability to use the medium of air to own advantage while denying its use to the adversary. However, concepts of air power thought have evolved remarkably since Douhet on account of technological innovations. From gladiatorial dogfights between knights of the air, the instruments of air power have progressed astoundingly with the advent of Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missiles, air-to-surface weapons launched from long distances without visually sighting the targets they are aimed at, stealth and speed enhancements and aircraft performance in terms of manoeuver ability and agility.

The next year will be pivotal for the Air Force's effort to acquire a new class of autonomous drones, as industry teams compete for a chance to build a fleet of robotic wingmen that will soon undergo operational experimentation. The "Skyborg" program is one of the service's top science-and-technology priorities under the "Vanguard" initiative to deliver game-changing capabilities to its warfighters. The aim is to acquire relatively inexpensive, attritable unmanned aircraft that can leverage artificial intelligence and accompany manned fighter jets into battle. "I expect that we will do sorties where a set number are expected to fly with the manned systems, and we'll have crazy new [concepts of operation] for how they'll be used," Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Will Roper said during an online event hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. The platforms might even be called upon to conduct kamikaze missions.

With a $740.5 billion budget for national security, the United States continues to be the leading country in terms of combat power. The US Air Force has just signed four contractors to build an unmanned combat aircraft with artificial intelligence (AI) for as much as $400 million. With the initiative to create a low-cost combat aircraft, with modular payloads for a multitude of air and ground-attack capabilities, the Skyborg Vanguard program was created. Skyborg is an autonomy-focused aircraft that will enable the Air Force to operate unmanned teamed aircrafts at a sustainable low cost. The program is undergoing prototyping whereby they are developing an autonomous aircraft which is equipped with unmanned system technologies to support a range of Air Force missions.

The U.S. Air Force plans to have an operational combat drone by 2023. The service plans to build out a family of unmanned aircraft, known as Skyborg, capable of carrying weapons and actively participating in combat. The Air Force's goal is to build up a large fleet of armed, sort-of disposable jets that don't need conventional runways to take off and land. The Air Force, according to Aviation Week & Space Technology, expects to have the first operational Skyborg aircraft ready by 2023. Skyborg will be available with both subsonic and supersonic engines, indicating both attack and fighter jet versions.

An MQ-9 Reaper assigned to the 214th Attack Group, Arizona Air National Guard, flies over Michigan. The U.S. Air Force wants a new hunter-killer drone to replace its current fleet of 306 propeller-driven MQ-9 Reapers. And it could end up including a version of the service's Skyborg artificial intelligence. Where the Reaper is pretty dumb, the new drone could be very clever. The Air Force on June 3 released a request for information to the aerospace industry for a next-generation unmanned intelligence-strike platform.

The US Air Force (USAF) has launched a competition to design the artificially intelligent software, called Skyborg, that would control its planned fleet of loyal wingman unmanned air vehicles (UAV). The service intends to grant indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts worth $400 million per awardee to develop the software and related hardware, it says in a request for proposals released on 15 May. The USAF is looking for technical and cost proposals from companies by 15 June 2020 and intends to award multiple companies contracts, though it may award just one contract or no contracts, based on proposals. Skyborg would be artificially intelligent software used to control the flight path, weapons and sensors of large numbers of UAVs. Automating flight control, in particular via artificial intelligence, is seen as necessary to allow a single person, perhaps a backseat pilot in a fighter aircraft, to command multiple UAVs at once.

"I expect the first things that we'll do will not appear as sexy as what you might imagine in a movie, but will be completely game-changing," Roper explained at the conference on Mar. 13, 2019. He did not elaborate, but one of the immediate benefits of an AI or AI-enabled system is the increased speed of decision-making. At first, a drone with Skyborg might not necessarily do anything a manned aircraft can't do already, but it will be able to perform those tasks, such as aerial combat maneuvers or weapons employment, faster based on its set parameters. Where a human might be distracted or confused by the chaos of an aerial engagement, an autonomous unmanned aircraft would simply act. The drone would be able to make its decision quickly, but also based on an immense amount of situational data that would take an actual pilot much longer to process.

Unmanned drones, powered by artificial intelligence, may soon accompany US Air Force Pilots on missions as autonomous wingmen. Both Boeing's F-15 and Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jets are being considered for the'Skyborg' drone support program. The scheme would cut down on the amount of people in the jets and could both reduce the risk to pilots and be more economical. Drones can be manufactured for a fortieth of the cost of a new fighter jet and may be guided by the sole pilot inside the nearby fighter plane. To safely manage any such drones, however, AI will need to be sufficiently developed to make it immune to attacks that could exploit its operating features.

The Air Force wants to see if AI-powered autonomous drones can help human pilots better perform their mission. In a press release, the Air Force said it was seeking input from the tech industry in a new AI initiative for autonomous drones it calls Skyborg. Still in its planning stages, the Air Force is looking for market research and concept of operations analysis for Skyborg to get a sense of what technologies are out there for such a fleet. It is seeking to launch protoypes of the autonomous drones as early as 2023. What exactly would the autonomous drones under Skyborg do?

In the near future, an Air Force pilot's wingman could be flown by artificial intelligence. The two might fly side-by-side in a highly contested war zone -- and the AI aircraft not only takes the lead, it begins making choices. Does it fire missiles or drop bombs ahead of its fighter counterpart? Probably, because the human response has a lag time, unlike a machine that can detect and react immediately, if necessary. It sounds very much like the Air Force's proposed Loyal Wingman program.