Europe rearms: 'Wingmen' drones take center stage at Berlin airshow

The ILA Berlin airshow highlighted a significant shift in military aviation, with defense firms unveiling advanced "wingman" aircraft designed to operate alongside traditional fighter jets. These unmanned, AI-driven drones, also known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), represent a new era of aerial warfare, capable of flying in high-speed formations and performing tasks ranging from enhanced situational awareness to carrying extra weaponry.

The development comes as European nations, spurred by conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, ramp up their defense capabilities. The MQ-28 Ghost Bat, a collaboration between Boeing Australia and Rheinmetall, exemplifies this trend. "It can go out ahead of crewed platforms, provide situational awareness, analyze data, it can fuse that data and provide decision-making quality information back to a human," said Amy List, managing director for Boeing Australia, at the airshow.

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The AI agent, of course, the brain of these systems, needs to be controlled in a sovereign fashion.

Unlike older military drones primarily used for surveillance, these CCAs are autonomous and jet-powered, designed for direct combat integration. This move also reflects a growing European desire for sovereign defense capabilities, less dependent on the United States. Stephanie Lingmann, head of air domain at German startup Helsing, emphasized the need for "sovereign control" over the AI systems powering these aircraft, particularly in light of electronic warfare's demonstrated impact in recent conflicts.

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It can go out ahead of crewed platforms, provide situational awareness, analyze data, it can fuse that data and provide decision-making quality information back to a human.