Air Force 'Loyal Wingmen' YFQ-42A Drones Have Begun Ground Testing
2025-05-21
The National Interest
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The U.S. Air Force and General Atomics have unveiled the YFQ-42A, an AI-enabled stealth unmanned combat aircraft, and commenced ground testing as part of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program. Designed to fly alongside F-22s and F-35s, the drone marks a major advance in lethal autonomous capabilities with future battlefield risk.[AI generated]
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
The event involves the development and testing of an AI-enabled autonomous combat drone system (an AI System) that is described as "truly lethal" and intended for use in military operations. Although no harm has yet occurred, the nature of the system and its intended use in warfare plausibly could lead to significant harms including injury or death, disruption of critical infrastructure, and harm to communities. The article does not report any actual incident or harm caused by the drone so far, but the potential for harm is clear and credible. Therefore, this event qualifies as an AI Hazard due to the plausible future harm from the development and deployment of lethal autonomous weapons systems.[AI generated]