The Russia-Ukraine War, which has left four years behind, and the Iran-USA-Israel conflict, which has lasted more than 40 days and whose effects are still ongoing, have shown the whole world that the combat operational environment has undergone a radical and revolutionary transformation.

Air, land, surface, underwater and even underground operation areas began to be reshaped in terms of both symmetrical and asymmetrical forms of struggle.

Radical changes are taking place in almost every aspect of war, from weapon systems to sensors, from command-and-control structures to target detection and destruction processes.

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However, unmanned systems are undoubtedly at the center of this transformation. The low cost, high availability, widespread use and swarm operation capabilities provided by unmanned air, land, sea and underwater vehicles have opened many doctrines that have been valid on the battlefield for more than a century to discussion. Today, the most important factor determining the future of war is the new operational understanding created by unmanned systems rather than manned platforms.

We can say that many armed forces in the world are rapidly switching to the procurement and production of Armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (AUAV) and Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAV). Many air forces and defense companies now see fifth-generation fighter jets as the last major stage in the era of manned fighter jets. Therefore, the common feature of the sixth-generation projects is not only to produce a more advanced manned aircraft, but also to turn the manned platform into a system that works with many unmanned aerial vehicles. The aim is to transform the manned fighter jet from a stand-alone combat platform into a mission commander who manages the unmanned fighter jets (loyal wingman) around it. In this structure, a significant part of the air defense suppression, electronic warfare, reconnaissance and high-risk attack missions will be carried out by unmanned systems, while the piloted aircraft will lag and take over the management of the network-centric operation.

UCAVs at 2025 China Victory Day Parade

In this context, the concept of loyal wingman is developing rapidly. From the 2030s, mixed squadrons with dozens of unmanned warplanes are expected to become widespread alongside manned warplanes. Against this backdrop, the manned aircraft will not disappear completely, but it will largely be unmanned systems that take the first hit and engage in the most dangerous missions, while they are drawn into the role of decision-maker and mission manager. For this reason, the decisive force of air warfare after 2040 will not be individual fighter jets, but integrated swarm systems consisting of manned and unmanned platforms.

Türkiye’s most important platforms for this concept are Bayraktar KIZILELMA and ANKA III. Both systems are being developed to operate with TAI Kaan in the future. For this reason, Türkiye is already creating an important infrastructure in the manned-unmanned joint operation concept, which is considered one of the basic elements of the sixth-generation air warfare.

Source: Global Research