\u201cWhat we are looking to do is beginning a phase of an open, collaborative autonomy architecture, and this government-owned reference architecture is really going to be an environment where more players can come and compete their own versions of what autonomous collaborative weapons should be,\u201d AFRL Director Brig. Gen. Heather Pringle said last week during the Air Force Association\u2019s annual winter meeting.<\/a><\/p>\n The move follows the second flight test Feb. 19 of AFRL\u2019s in-house developed Collaborative Small Diameter Bomb (CSDB). The test, AFRL announced today<\/a>, involved four of the CSDBs, which feature data links to communicate, chose targets (based on pre-programmed algorithms) and coordinate strikes against an array of targets, independently from the human pilot.<\/p>\n The first test, held Dec. 15, 2020,<\/a> failed to meet all its flight objectives, so the second test utilized improved software, the press release explained.<\/p>\n CSDB is essentially a souped-up version of Boeing\u2019s Small Diameter Bomb<\/a> that the Air Force has in abundance. AFRL and prime contractor Scientific Applications & Research Associates (SARA) led the development, with SARA providing the seeker for finding adversary GPS jammers. \u201cSupporting contractors included L3Harris providing the Banshee 2 networked software defined radio, Georgia Tech Research Institute with the radio antenna, collaborative autonomy processor and algorithms, and The Boeing Company integrating the new technologies into its SDB-I weapons,\u201d the AFRL press release elaborated.<\/p>\n The end goal of Golden Horde, which is one of AFRL\u2019s high-priority Vanguard<\/a> programs, is to increase the combat fire power of Air Force fighter jets. This helps explain the service\u2019s desire to explore as many options for new weapons as possible.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/cohetes.jpg\")