A BQM-167 drone is prepared for launch at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, in May 2015. The BQM-167 is the Air Force’s standard target drone, but fails to mimic stealthy modern aircraft that American pilots are likely to face in the event of a great-power conflict. (US Air Force/Sara Vidoni)

The US Air Force Wants to Buy New Target Drones—with a Catch

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The new drones must be realistic enough to effectively train US aviators, but cheap enough to shoot down and replace—a seemingly impossible contradiction.

The US Air Force is interested in procuring a new family of aerial targets capable of imitating anything that its pilots or air defense systems might find themselves up against in a future war—meaning everything from low-end hobby drones and quadcopters to high-end supersonic stealth fighters and strategic bombers.

This is an unusually wide range requirement, and it demands something that is realistic enough to accurately imitate a potential target but attritable enough to lose. The procurement request sets up an interesting engineering compromise: the targets need to be sophisticated enough to challenge modern radars, infrared sensors, and missile seekers—but also inexpensive enough that the Air........

© The National Interest