Armed drones could take to the air for testing alongside US fighter pilots as early as 2018.

The Air Force's 'Loyal Wingman' program aims to pair fifth generation fighter jets with unmanned older craft, using computer algorithms to give pilots control of the drones.

The initiative would allow a drone to take the lead in navigating dangerous environments, pinpointing targets without putting a human pilot at risk.

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The Air Force's 'Loyal Wingman' program aims to pair fifth generation fighter jets with unmanned older craft, using computer algorithms to give pilots remote control of the drones. This would see F-16 warplane (pictured above) converted into a semi-autonomous and unmanned fighter that flies alongside a manned F-35 jet

THE 'LOYAL WINGMAN' INITIATIVE The 'Loyal Wingman' program would see the Air Force convert an older craft, like the F-16 warplane, into a semi-autonomous and unmanned fighter that flies alongside a fifth generation craft, like the F-35 jet. The program aims to let drones fly ahead into potentially unsafe environments, and could even allow the unmanned 'wingman' craft to fire at targets selected by the pilot. Commands would be given to the drone via a secure datalink, but the drone wingman would be highly autonomous, requiring little input from the pilot Advertisement

In mid-2015, the Air Force Researcher Laboratories launched the program in a formal request for information (RFI) to the aerospace industry, War is Boring reports.

The RFI stated, 'Autonomy technologies can enhance future operations and capabilities in contested and denied environments.

'Technologies are also required to seamlessly integrate the pilot and his/her aircraft with the autonomous unmanned aircraft to allow them to operate as a team for combat effectiveness.'

The program aims to let drones fly ahead into potentially unsafe environments, and could even allow the unmanned 'wingman' craft to fire at targets selected by the pilot.

Commands would be given to the drone via a secure datalink.

But, due to the threat of signal jamming and other complications, the AFRL seeks a system in which the drone wingman is highly autonomous, requiring little input from the pilot.

The AFRL aims to see tests on the 'Loyal Wingman' program begin as early as 2018, War is Boring reports.

Last month, a top Pentagon official gave a tantalizing peek into several projects that not long ago were the stuff of science fiction, including missile-dodging satellites, self-flying F-16 fighters and robot naval fleets.

Last month, a top Pentagon official gave a tantalizing peek into several projects that not long ago were the stuff of science fiction, including missile-dodging satellites, self-flying F-16 fighters and robot naval fleets. New high-tech and robotic technology in development for the US military, pictured above

Though the Pentagon is not planning to build devices that can kill without human input, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work hinted that could change if enemies with fewer qualms create such machines.

'We might be going up against a competitor that is more willing to delegate authority to machines than we are, and as that competition unfolds we will have to make decisions on how we best can compete,' he said.

Work, who helps lead Pentagon efforts to ensure the US military keeps its technological edge, described several initiatives, including the 'Loyal Wingman' that would see the Air Force convert an F-16 warplane into a semi-autonomous and unmanned fighter that flies alongside a manned F-35 jet.

THE PENTAGON'S SWARMING MICRO-DRONES Last month, it was revealed that a highly secretive Pentagon organization is experimenting with 'micro-drones' which could one day take to the sky like a like a swarm of robotic locusts. The experiments led by the Strategic Capabilities Office were conducted in Alaska last summer, according to The Washington Post, during which the tiny drones were launched from fighter jets. The micro-drones have inch-wide propellers, and can be launched from the flare dispensers of F-16 and F/A-18 fighter jets. After launch, they descend in a parachute-equipped canister and then break free. Once free, the drones gain situational awareness and locate other drones to create a swarm. The program costs roughly $20 million, and is named after Perdix, a character in Greek mythology who was turned into a partridge by Athena. The Alaska exercise put the drones through 150 tests, 72 of which were from fighter jets. These micro-drones can also be launched from the ground by hand, or using a sling-shot like device. It's been said they can be used for surveillance and as a way of confusing enemy forces. Advertisement

'It is going to happen,' Work said of this and other unmanned systems.

'I would expect to see unmanned wingmen in the air first, I would expect to see unmanned systems undersea all over the place, I would expect to see unmanned systems on the surface of the sea,' Work told an audience at a discussion in the capital hosted by The Washington Post.

The US military has over the past 15 years invested heavily in unmanned drone technology, used to surveil vast parts of the Middle East and Africa and sometimes conduct deadly strikes -- though remote human operators decide when to fire.

Commercial tech firms like Google are rushing to develop driverless vehicles, but Work said it would take longer for the military to create autonomous trucks given the challenges of navigating off-road.

'When the roads become more dangerous we will go off road, and that type of navigation is extremely difficult,' Work said.

The US military wants to build driverless convoys to protect against roadside bombs, a low-tech weapon that has killed hundreds of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Air Force's 'Loyal Wingman' program aims to pair fifth generation fighter jets, like the F-35B Lightning II pictured above, with unmanned older craft, using computer algorithms to give pilots remote control of the drones

Science and technology leaders including British physicist Stephen Hawking fret that the development of weapons with a degree of autonomous decision-making could be feasible within years, not decades.

Earlier this year, they called for a ban on offensive autonomous weapons that are beyond meaningful human control, warning the world risked sliding into an artificial intelligence arms race and raising alarm over the risks of such weapons falling into the hands of extremists.

Work's comments come after Defense Secretary Ash Carter last month lifted the lid on a couple of secret Pentagon projects.

Next year's proposed budget includes $71.4 billion in research and development funds.

Carter said the secretive Strategic Capabilities Office had created tiny, swarming drones that are built largely from components created by 3D printers.