GRAND FORKS — Manned aircraft aren’t going anywhere when it comes to the future of warfare, but autonomous systems are going to see more capabilities, said the vice president for strategic development at defense contractor General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.
Patrick “Mike” Shortsleeve said that within the next 20 to 30 years, the aircraft people will see on a tarmac at a military airfield will have an abundance of some kind of unmanned capability. However, a human will still be needed.
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“The exciting part is the merger of manned and unmanned working together,” he said. “That is the collaborative combat aircraft. That’s the next stage of what’s going on with unmanned systems.”
Shortsleeve spoke with University of North Dakota President Andrew Armacost at the UND Space Operations Summit on Thursday, Nov. 5, as part of the “UND LEADS: Broad Perspectives on National Security” speaker series. The series serves as a complement to the university's National Security Initiative, inviting national experts to speak about national security with Armacost.
Armacost called General Automics an “anchor tenant” of the aviation park GrandSky, west of Grand Forks.
“The partnership w...