US-China are in a race to 1000 wingman drones by 2030—the tech that could rewrite World War III and shape the balance of geopolitical power.
Think if five R2D2s were each flying X-wings fighter in Stars Wars to help Luke Sky Walker. In the real world these unmanned fighter drones will be ‘loyal wingmen’— sidekicks for US F-35s or China J-20s fighters. They will be scouting, jamming, or kamikaze-striking without a human pilot. Powered by machine learning, they swarm like angry bees,enhancing one pilot into a 10x deadlier air squadron.
Why care? In a Taiwan showdown, whoever fields these first can own the air. US sims show swarms overwhelming carriers. China thinks they will use them to down US fighters and B-21 stealth bombers. It’s not sci-fi—it’s 2025 reality, with superdrone budgets going to $30B+ and beyond
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
MOAR WAR PLEASE!
Russians and Ukrainians are using fiber optic guided [drone] munitions.
I imagine the coms between wingman and R2D2 and R2D2 and base are very sophisticated and powerful? Band switching and high power?
I’ve seen Independence Day and Ender’s Game. Images of drones falling out of the sky could be the ultimate result. Maybe default to inertial guidance and return to base?
US will need to learn to manufacture quality drones at speed and cost effectively. The arms race will be
who can build faster.
How can it be an arms race when China just steals every piece of tech they have?
[ maybe think of gunpowder?
“Gunpowder is one of the Four Great Inventions of China. Originally developed by Taoists for medicinal purposes, it was first used for warfare around AD 904.” (thx) ]