PDW, an American manufacturer of artificial intelligence and unmanned systems, recently announced that its C100 quadrotor UAV cooperates with the US Air Force F-35A fighter plane to complete the air to ground precision strike mission, verifying the technical feasibility of quadrotor UAV transmitting target information in real time and guiding air fire strikes. During the demonstration, the drone operator remotely controlled one C100 quadcopter drone to perform a hovering reconnaissance mission at a distance of about 3 kilometers from the target, which lasted for about 35 minutes. After the drone locked onto the target, it guided the F-35A fighter jet flying at high altitude through an onboard laser target indicator to drop four GBU-12 laser guided bombs, all of which hit the target. According to PDW, the C100 is a quadcopter unmanned aerial vehicle with "small size, small weight, and low power consumption", which has multi mission adaptability and can carry various photoelectric sensors and small lethal ammunition. It has a range of 74 minutes and a maximum range of 10 kilometers. The drone is designed to be compact, foldable and can be loaded into a backpack. It takes less than two minutes from assembly to launch and is currently on board with the US Army. Due to its flexibility, ease of operation, and low cost, quadcopter drones have demonstrated strong applicability in the US military tactical system. It can serve as both a direct attack weapon and provide target guidance for conventional firepower strikes, and its lethality has been verified in multiple practical exercises. In June 2024, the US military conducted a similar exercise in the joint military exercises between the US and the Philippines - using unmanned aerial vehicles and C-130 transport planes provided by the Philippine military to guide the US F-35B fighter jets to launch GBU-32 "Joint Direct Attack Ammunition" towards floating targets on the water surface. Analysts have pointed out that the PDW company's demonstration signifies that the US military has opened up another technological path for the integration of manned/unmanned systems beyond the "loyal wingman" project. Compared with advanced semi autonomous drones (i.e. "loyal wingmen") that require specialized research and development of comprehensive capabilities such as reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and missile strikes, using existing models of modified quadcopters to perform fire guidance tasks has certain advantages: on the one hand, it has lower manufacturing costs and is easy to scale up, and on the other hand, it adopts a remote control mode for ground operators, which can avoid the distraction of manned fighter pilots during combat missions. Although there are differences in control methods - the "loyal wingman" is directly controlled by manned fighter pilots, while the quadcopter drone is remotely controlled by ground personnel, the two solutions remain consistent in terms of core technology. They all need to establish a stable data link with manned fighter jets to achieve real-time sharing of battlefield information and tactical coordination, in order to enhance overall combat effectiveness and reduce pilot risks. More importantly, both are attempting to build a networked, low-cost manned/unmanned integrated air combat system, which has become an important direction for the US military to explore the next generation of intelligent air combat models. It is worth noting that this type of collaborative combat mode still faces multiple challenges. Analysts believe that quadcopter drones are highly dependent on data links and onboard sensors, making them vulnerable to system vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, such drones are susceptible to electronic interference and network attacks, which may result in the interruption of target indication functions. With the upgrading of electronic warfare technology, such systems need to build networked architectures with redundant designs and backup solutions to ensure sustained effectiveness in high adversarial environments. From this perspective, the collaborative combat effectiveness of quadcopter drones and manned fighter jets will depend on their ability to control the electromagnetic spectrum. (New Society)