My son was lead project engineer on this when he worked for Kratos about 4 years ago. He got this through flight testing acceptance at Defense Test Facility Yuma, Arizona.
Why is no one talking about all of these announced CCA's being sub-supersonic? How are they supposed to be loyal wingmen if they cannot keep up with the lead aircraft controlling them?
its still a first iteration model, a proof of concept. don't expect an experimental platform to carry all the bells and whistles of fully developed manned-machines that have been in service for years longer than the XQ-58 has been in development.
This version at least cannot. It doesn't have that kind of weaponry. The company, and other companies, are working on various different versions of similar drones for that purpose and other tasks but this one at least is not a dogfighter.
dogfighting is obsolete. Tactics change as technology and doctrine changes. We no longer have infantry that stands in long lines and advanes towards an enemy across an open field. We no longer dig long trenches. Current tech is more set to have "stealth" and high "situational awareness" and fire from a very long stand off. We kill, before they even know we are there. This is why we sell so many F35's and the new NGAD all over the globe. The main role of these, just like an F35 is to be a ninja not to fight someone in a mano a mano duel. (we do maintain a small fleet of F22's for dogfighting, just in case, and to SUPPLEMENT the other planes. This is why most of our fighter are not too afraid of the Su57's (which have even better dogfighting capabilities, than an F35 and probably better than the F22). Despite the Su 27/35/57 flight characteristics, they suck big time at stealth. all of them are sitting ducks. They don't even use most of them in Ukraine!!!!!! BUT these also make a F35 an the B21 more capable to do their own missions. This is one of the lead contenders in the "Loyal wingman" program. They can send up to 128 (realistically 4-5) to fly alongside an f35 (for example) they can carry most of the intended rockets or bombs, so that the piloted F35 never reveals itself (when you deploy a rocket or bomb, you lose stealth). You can purposely have one dedicated to ESW. Yuo can purposely have one "lose" their stealth to act as a decoy for a missile or to send on a fake mission, distracting from the real mission. Youcan even have one kamakazee after their munitions are expended (they cost less than the missles they carry) or you ca have one self-sacrifice to save their F35/NGAD wingman. Further, these can be deployed further in, and remain hidden with only a few men "ground crew" and launched with only a few dozen feet of "runway" so the F35 or an AWACS/longtaill can direct them using networked communications. These DO have dogfighting capability, they are just not an air dominance tool. They did a "test" against an F16 whose pilot gave it high points ( who, of course, won) and said that it was hard to keep up. But they really have no intention of being used this way for the next 20 years.
unless a new conflict arises with an enemy with a capable fleet of fighter jets then we wont be seeing dogfighting for a while. I'm sure if (fitted with the right kit) the xq-58 would be a capable fighting machine against enemy air craft.
less than the cost tof the missles, they deploy. Current cost is less than 3 milllion. Estimated cost at scale is 800,000 versus the cost of a 75 million plus dollar f35. so you can have say four (planned) of these operate alongside an f35, quadruple (or more up to 128x) the payload. Or you can reduce the playload of the piloted F35/NGAD and use the weight and capacity for more range by having the valkyrie act as the "truck" ). And you can increase pilot safety by having one of these fly a "fake" mission or to purposely shed stealth and act as a decoy. This SAVES money and increases pilot safety
General characteristics: Capacity: 600 lb (272 kg) internal, 600 lb (272 kg) external Length: 30 ft (9.1 m) Wingspan: 27 ft (8.2 m) Empty weight: 2,500 lb (1,134 kg) Max takeoff weight: 6,000 lb (2,722 kg) Performance: Cruise speed: 476 kn (548 mph, 882 km/h) Range: 3,000 nmi (3,500 mi, 5,600 km) approximate Service ceiling: 45,000 ft (14,000 m) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kratos_XQ-58_Valkyrie
It would only be a bad idea due to the high probability of Russia recovering one and sharing it with the Chinese government to be reverse engineered, just like they do with everything they can get their hands on.
besides the fact that sending a trillion dollars is financially irresponsible even for the U.S and outright impossible, you do realize we aren't directly sending them money, correct? when the media says "we're sending X amount of money to Ukraine" it means we're sending equipment (vests, helmets, individual weapon systems, vehicles etc) that altogether is worth that amount. besides, why would sending more crap to Ukraine be bad? the U.S is essentially fighting a proxy war via Ukraine, the conflict has shown us that Russia literally cannot fight against an country weaker than Texas. Using the conflict as a means to test out experimental equipment is also a plus, makes it all the better.
