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Will tomorrow’s US Air Force fleet be pilotless?

6th March 2025 - 10:20 GMT | by Flavia Camargos Pereira in Kansas City

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A KC-135 Stratotanker refuels an F-15. (Photo: USAF)

The US Air Force has been showing an increasing interest in adding trusted uncrewed capabilities to its aircraft inventory.

Lessons learned from recent conflicts have been pushing the US Air Force (USAF) towards increasing the use of autonomy across its aircraft fleet. The service is currently conducting several efforts to implement and deepen the operation of trusted uncrewed capabilities in its in-service platforms.

Aligned with the recent updates to USAF doctrine for operations, command and control (C2) and planning, these initiatives intend to enable and facilitate attack, logistics, support and SAR missions in contested and congested environments, while reducing risks for pilots and aircraft crews.

In its Reoptimizing for Great Power Competition paper, the USAF highlighted that “embracing change

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