Pilotless fighter jets could transform aerial warfare

The future of aerial warfare might be missing one key component – the pilot.

FOX Business was exclusively invited to Northrop Grumman’s unveiling of its next-gen autonomous fighter, named “Project Talon.” It’s meant to serve as a “loyal wingman” to piloted fighter aircraft as a teammate in combat missions.

“An autonomous aircraft has the capability of doing its mission completely on its own, which obviously frees up manpower so our war fighters can focus on other parts of the job,” said Tom Jones, Northrop Grumman’s president of aeronautics systems.

The fighter is modular, meaning it can carry out a number of tasks, from air-to-air missiles to bombs. And while the versatility is impressive, what makes these types of aircraft especially attractive to customers is the price.

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“The aircraft that we have behind us today is really designed for what the Air Force refers to as affordable mass,” said Jones from Scaled Composites’ unassuming hangar in Mojave, about 90 minutes north of Los Angeles. Scaled Composites is a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman.

“The concept behind affordable mass is to create capable platforms, which this has got all the brains in it of those half a million hours of autonomy with it. But it’s been designed and packaged in a very affordable type of airframe so that if it does get lost, it’s not the same as losing, say an F-35 or B-2, which is a much more expensive platform. And obviously, you don’t have the loss of the crew member, which is also very significant,” said Jones.

Typical piloted fighter jets can cost anywhere from $75 million to $150 million. The Talon comes in at a fraction of that cost, projected to be in the $15 million to $20 million range (the final cost has not been revealed yet).

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“The performance of aircraft like this isn’t necessarily meant to match you know, spec for spec, what a crewed fighter would do, right? A crewed fighter has a pilot, you want that person to be able to survive, so you have to be able to have high speed to outrun missiles, you have to have maneuverability to outmaneuver your assailant,” said Jones. “With the uncrewed, highly affordable platform, you need less of those characteristics, which is part of getting to affordability, because high speed and high Gs is more money.“

In remarks to defense industry leaders on Nov. 7, War Secretary Pete Hegseth outlined the Warfighting Acquisition System, asking companies to develop new technologies with their own funding with the promise of bigger and longer contracts for being successful.

“The Department of War will only do business with industry partners that share our priority of speed and volume above all else, who are willing to surge American manufacturing at the speed of ingenuity to deliver rapidly and reliably for our warfighters,” Hegseth said.

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Northrop Grumman is just one of a number of American companies working to build an autonomous jet fighter. Anduril Industries is developing the YFQ-44 “Fury,” General Atomics the YFQ-42 “Gambit” and Lockheed Martin the “Vectis.” Anduril’s fighter took its first autonomous flight in October.

Talon was developed in 15 months with the goal of taking its first flight in the next nine months. The jet’s AI and instrumentation are tested on another plane, Beacon, that flies with a pilot onboard. And while the Talon is designed to be autonomous, one function may still require human input – pulling the trigger.

“For fledgling technology like this, where the loss of life is a potential consequence, we want to keep humans involved in that decision of to fire and not to fire. So, that is kind of an ethical line that we’ve drawn,” Jones said.

Jones said multiple branches of the U.S. armed forces have shown interest in the Talon, as well as international customers, due to its affordability and performance.

“Secretary Hegseth has been very specific about wanting to get capability in the hands of the warfighter fast,” said Jones. “I think this is a great example, and, Mr. Secretary, if you’re watching, we’re ready.”