The U.S. military appears to be assembling all the technology for robotic jet fighters to be able to shoot down enemy planes.

This is a big, big deal. Able to fly farther and stay in battle longer than manned planes, drones could help solve the most pressing problems facing American air power in the vast Pacific. Namely, distance and sortie rate.

The Pentagon’s fringe-science Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has a meeting scheduled for Feb. 28 to explain to defense industry officials what the agency wants from the new Distributed Battle Management program.

DBM is software meant to automate decision-making in aerial battles “involving manned combat aircraft as well as fighting drones,” according to Military and Aerospace Electronics magazine.

“The program will address how to manage the increasing complexity of manned and unmanned aircraft,” the magazine continued.

In other words, old-school jets and new-style drones are getting so sophisticated—and future air battles are expected to be so intense—that computers need to make more of the decisions about who shoots at what.

Not coincidentally, drones rely heavily on computerized autopilots, even if they do have human controllers guiding them via satellite from some remote ground station.

The DBM software could help meet the needs of the Navy’s planned new drone warplane. Last summer the sailing branch began landing and launching a pair of Northrop Grumman X-47B test drones aboard aircraft carriers off the East Coast.