The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working on the cheapest possible drones.
DARPA representatives said the unmanned "Gremlins" will be designed for about 20 launches, Intecracy reports.
The drones are expected to fill a niche between jet aircraft and single-use missiles. The US military, for its part, believes that cheap drones could replace manned aircraft in some cases. This would help prevent loss of life and significantly reduce financial losses.
In addition, DARPA has released a video demonstrating a new concept for countering enemy air defense systems. The US plans to create a "flying aircraft carrier" — a cargo plane that will launch drones and cruise missiles. This aircraft will operate in tandem with a fighter jet that coordinates the reconnaissance drones and designates targets for the cruise missiles. Once the drones have detected an enemy air defense system and the order to destroy it has been given, the "carrier" strikes it with several missiles at once, and shooting down all the missiles simultaneously is simply not realistic.