The BATS plane is primarily intended, in its wingman role, to protect against electronic attacks
With every passing year, items of technology once confined to the
realm of science fiction make their leaps from the pages of novels and
comics and the silver screen of Hollywood into cold, hard reality.
The latest piece of futuristic technology to make the jump from the
imaginary to the real is Boeing’s new unmanned fighter-like jet,
developed in collaboration with the Royal Australian Air Force. The
aircraft was revealed to the world in February 2019, and is called the
Boeing Airpower Teaming System.
The BATS – also called the Loyal Wingman – was developed in
Australia, making it that nation’s first domestically-developed military
aircraft since the Second World War. Australia has been, though, a
perfect place to develop the BATS plane, as this is Boeing’s largest
base of operations outside of the US. Boeing ATS. Photo: Boeing
Australia also has a lot of empty airspace in which prototypes can be
tested. The BATS project is thought to be Boeing’s largest investment
in the development of a new aircraft outside the United States.
The concept of an unmanned plane is hardly a new one. Unmanned aerial
vehicles, otherwise known as drones or UAVs, have been used in a
military context since WWI, although the current crop of high-tech
drones, based on technological advances made in the 1980s, differs
radically from earlier UAVs.
What is significant about Boeing’s new autonomous fighter-like jet,
though, is just how much more advanced it is than anything else in the
drone field. Boeing ATS with AEWC. Photo: Boeing
The BATS fighter-like jet is roughly the same size as a normal
fighter jet – it is around 11 meters long (38 feet), with a body and
wingspan roughly proportional in size to many current fighter jets used
in the Royal Australian Air Force.
The reason it is referred to as a “fighter-like” jet is that the
prototype has not been designed to be armed in the traditional manner of
a standard fighter jet – although the possibility of arming a BATS
plane with missiles and bombs in the future remains open.
Rather, the current focus of the BATS plane is to fly alongside
manned fighter jets, hence the “Loyal Wingman” moniker. The designers
envision, in one possible example, a squadron of four to six of their
autonomous BATS planes flying alongside a P-8A Poseidon, E-7 Wedgetail
or F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
Boeing ATS with SuperHornet. Photo: Boeing
The BATS plane is primarily intended, in its wingman role, to protect
against electronic attacks as well as conduct surveillance and
reconnaissance missions in places deemed to dangerous to send manned
aircraft, but could very easily be modified to take on a more aggressive
role. While it is unlikely that this model could go as far as getting
involved in dogfights with manned jets, the possibility of arming it for
a number of offensive missions is there.
One reason a large amount of money has been poured into the BATS
project (Boeing has declined to say just how much) is because of the
potential such an aircraft offers in terms of overcoming human-piloted
fighter jet limitations. A
model of the unmanned Boeing Airpower Teaming System was unveiled at
the Australian International Airshow Feb. 27. The Boeing Airpower
Teaming System will provide multi-mission support for air control
missions. (Boeing photo)
Human pilots, even the most gifted and highly trained, can only take a
certain number of G’s (gravitational forces), fly for a certain length
of time without becoming tired, and can only process a certain amount of
information at once. A plane piloted by AI (artificial intelligence),
or even remotely, could overcome a number of these hampering factors. Photo: Boeing
The BATS plane currently has a range of 2,000 nautical miles, and is
powered by a commercially-available jet engine. It uses standard runways
for landing and take-off, and can quite easily be modified to operate
from an aircraft carrier at sea. While Boeing has not confirmed that the
BATS plane will be able to fly at supersonic speeds, this does seem
like a likely possibility.
Another major advantage of the BATS plane is its price. While the
exact price of one of them has yet to be announced, Boeing has described
the BATS as having a “very disruptive price point” and has sung its
praises for featuring “fighter-like capability at a fraction of the
cost.” It could potentially serve as a force equalizer for nations that
cannot currently afford to field a large number of fighter jets in their
air forces. Photo: Boeing
Also, Boeing emphasizes the BATS’ flexibility and its potential for
customization, stressing that while it is currently intended for a
“Loyal Wingman” role, the scope of its possible future uses extends far
beyond this single function.
The first flight of a BATS plane is scheduled to take place in 2020,
and commercial production is still an unspecified number of years away.
Once Boeing does reach the commercial production phase, it is expected
that they will sell the BATS plane globally.
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