Once again the topic of drones as "wingman" to manned aircraft. See also relevant previous blog entry.
Thanks to the Russian media outlet RT:
"Britain confirms it is developing DRONE SWARMS, joining arms race with Russia, US and India"
"The drones will accompany the RAF’s Typhoon jets"
"The Ministry of Defence [UK MoD] is hoping to provide pilots with increased protection and survivability while also feeding them additional combat operations intelligence through the use of the Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) concept drone"
Missions of the drone swarm to include:
1. "a so-called ‘loyal wingman’ drone that will provide additional intel [intelligence] and close-quarter protection to human fighter pilots . . . 2. "create drone swarms which will overwhelm enemy anti-aircraft defenses for long enough to allow for successful bombing raids."
Within the context of drone and SWARM I usually associate the mini-drone or the micro-drone. These "loyal wingman" appear to be unmanned drones of considerable size according to artist conceptions. More or less a full size combat warplane [albeit reduced somewhat in size] but not of the micro or mini variety.
coolbert.