Air-combat maneuvers will be far more challenging than strike missions for artificial intelligence, so countries planning autonomous warplanes are generally looking at trying air-to-ground first. But to many Japanese ears, unmanned strike sounds too offensive-in both senses of the word. Probably for that reason, the country's defense planners are proposing to leap directly into air-to-air automation. Limiting the challenge, they propose high-performance robotic aircraft that would fly as helpers for manned fighters; a pilot would issue commands. And at first the aircraft, called Combat Support Unmanned Aircraft or unmanned wingmen, would fly ahead as sensor carriers, only later taking on the role of shooting.
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