US Warns Robot Fighters Could Outperform Human Pilots in Future Air Combat

"There will come a point where a robot fighter is better than a manned fighter," Lieutenant General Christopher Niemi told a Senate Armed Services Subcommittee hearing on Airland on Wednesday (local time). "It would be a tragic shame if the United States didn't have a better answer."

During a Congressional hearing on Air Force modernisation, officials repeatedly stressed the urgent need to adapt to changing battlefield realities shaped by artificial intelligence, drones and autonomous systems.

Niemi, who is expected to become the Air Force's first Chief Modernisation Officer, said the Pentagon sees autonomous combat aircraft as a critical part of future warfare.

"I'm very enthusiastic about the opportunities of the future for CCA-type aircraft," he said, referring to the Collaborative Combat Aircraft programme.

The Air Force is developing unmanned aircraft designed to fly alongside crewed fighters such as the F-22 and the future F-47. Officials said these systems could eventually perform surveillance, electronic warfare and strike missions with varying levels of autonomy.

Niemi said the programme would also become one of the military's primary platforms for testing practical uses of artificial intelligence in combat.

"Initially, we'll employ that platform sort of under the supervision of an F-22 pilot tethered," he said.

But he acknowledged that the long-term implications could fundamentally reshape air combat.

"There's no doubt in my mind that we'll find some disappointments and nasty surprises, but we're also going to discover some opportunities," Niemi said.

The warning came as lawmakers questioned whether the US military is overly dependent on expensive fighter jets while adversaries increasingly invest in lower-cost autonomous systems and drone swarms.

Senator Richard Blumenthal pointed to lessons emerging from Ukraine, where cheap drones have become central to battlefield operations.

"Our adversaries could say we're just going to focus on stuff we can use all over the world in great quantity," Blumenthal said during the hearing.

Niemi agreed that future warfare would require both advanced manned aircraft and cheaper autonomous systems produced at scale.

"It takes a balance of both the high end and the low end," he said.

The Air Force said it is already studying how to build unmanned aircraft that are modular, easier to manufacture and capable of operating in highly contested environments.

Officials also referenced growing concern over America's ability to match the industrial scale of rivals and partners engaged in modern drone warfare.

"I heard today that the Ukrainians are building a million drones a month," Niemi told senators.

The hearing highlighted broader Pentagon concerns about strategic competition with China, which US officials believe is aggressively pursuing artificial intelligence, autonomous weapons and next-generation military technologies.

The debate over autonomous combat systems is also drawing close attention from allies such as India, which is rapidly modernising its military and expanding cooperation with the United States on advanced defence technologies, drones and artificial intelligence. India has already acquired American MQ-9B drones and continues to deepen defence interoperability with Washington amid rising Indo-Pacific tensions.

Military planners across the world are increasingly studying how artificial intelligence could transform air combat, logistics and battlefield decision-making. While fully autonomous fighter aircraft remain years away, defence officials believe the technology is advancing far faster than many governments anticipated only a decade ago.

- IANS