Update: Subaru delivers eight experimental ‘loyal wingman' aircraft to ATLA

A subscale ‘loyal wingman' demonstrator developed by Subaru conducts a test flight in 2025. (Subaru)

Japan's plan to develop a ‘loyal wingman' combat aircraft has gathered momentum with Subaru having delivered multiple unmanned aircraft to the Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) for testing and evaluation.

In announcing the deliveries to ATLA, Subaru said on 9 July that the “experimental aircraft” will drive research into “remote-controlled support aircraft”. An ATLA spokesperson told Janes on 18 July that the agency “received eight test aircraft [from Subaru] in July”.

Known as Renkei Mujinki (‘unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to collaborate with the next-generation fighter aircraft'), the project aims to produce a high-performance UAV to operate alongside the sixth-generation Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) aircraft, the ATLA spokesperson said. Subaru received the contract to research and develop the experimental aircraft in fiscal year (FY) 2019, the agency spokesperson added. Subaru said it “designed, manufactured, and flight tested the experimental aircraft”, before their July delivery to ATLA for evaluation.

A company video showed the experimental UAVs are subscale in size, with a length of approximately 7 ft. At least two aircraft were involved in flight trials at a Subaru facility.

Two objectives

The evaluation programme seeks to develop and test two primary technological characteristics, according to the company. One is to develop the platform's autonomous flight-route generation system “to ensure that it can calculate and select the optimum flightpaths in response to the changing mission environments”. The second is to test the ability of personnel in manned aircraft to manage UAV operations in real time from the cockpit.