Airforce develop Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems to meet challenges of Cyber-Attacks, Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2SD) actions and Space Threats

The current Armed drones like Predators and Reapers are essentially remote controlled that is they involve human operators remotely controlling the vehicle with the assistance of fairly low levels of automation for some functions (e.g., the operator specifies waypoints to be followed by the platform). Systems like these have proved to be successful in permissive environments like Afghanistan and Iraq; However Predators and Reapers are useless in a contested environment, i.e.  are at risk when confronted with advanced air defense systems. The Pentagon needs to move away from Predator and Reaper unmanned systems and establish a fleet of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft that can handle contested environments, said a top Air Force general.