F-35 Gets Deadlier With Next-Gen War Drones: Speed Racer, a $100M Lockheed Martin Project

Fundamentally, the new weapon is a drone, but don’t think in terms of Predators. This project is far more advanced – and fierce – than the famous uncrewed aerial vehicle. Watch the first video from Lockheed Martin to catch a glimpse of future aerial warfare.

The F-35 is the designated beneficiary of this new air missile-looking drone, and if you thought the mighty fighter jet has no rival in the skies today, imagine what the Speed Racer will do. It can be deployed from the human-crewed aircraft and, using advanced comms and an array of sensors and computers, it can effectively become the pilot’s trusty wingman.

With affordable costs and significant (and probably unconventional) kill power, the drone is also capable of complex intel gathering. Thus, the fighter pilot has a considerable advantage, both in tactical decision-making as well as in battle.

Named “Project Carrera,” the development of this new war drone is Lockheed Martin’s $100 million investment in “distributed teaming” (learn more about it from the second video). The concept refers to pairing manned and unmanned combat systems. While the idea is not new and has been in use for some time, the technology of this project is the next step in warfare.

According to LM, “Project Carrera will incorporate phased demonstrations of capability upgrades in operational scenarios, incrementally introducing the JADO (Joint All-Domain Operations) technology stack and experimentation, digital engineering, human-machine interfaces capable of autonomy and artificial intelligence (AI), and more.”

While not explicitly detailed, the video does make a subtle reference to one eyebrow-raising feature of the Speed Racer drone – the “non-kinetic effect,” as LM likes to call it. Whether that translates into High-Energy Laser Systems (HELS) weapons, Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), or High-Powered Microwaves, we’ll find out once the project unfolds.