Subscribe
“Go build something,” a concise and powerful directive. In 2014, Dr. Dave Walker, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Science, Technology, and Engineering, recognized the increasing problem with combat aircraft cost, acquisition timelines, and other challenges facing warfighters. He looked to AFRL to solve these problems with the direction to "Go build something."
This resulted in the establishment of AFRL’s Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology Program, which looked at how to design and build uncrewed vehicles at cost and in numbers.
The early part of the LCAAT program involved extensive analysis of design, cost, operations, and manufacturing factors. AFRL scientists and engineers worked with several aircraft manufacturers to explore opportunities to achieve high performance while keeping unit costs for uncrewed aircraft low.
Technologies from the Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology program ultimately fed into AFRL programs developing autonomous collaborative platforms, or ACPs. LCAAT also birthed the XQ-58A Valkyrie under the Low-Cost Attritable Strike Demonstration program, which proved that it was possible to create a high-performance uncrewed vehicle for under three million dollars. Moreover, the Valkyrie became a key platform in autonomy test and development for both the United States Air Force and the Marine Corps.
Air Force Historian, Jeff Duford, joins the AFRL “Discovery to Delivery” video series to uncover the historic scope and role of AFRL’s critical research, which delivers today’s warfighting capabilities.
| Date Taken: | 01.01.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 01.16.2026 09:54 |
| Category: | Video Productions |
| Video ID: | 992279 |
| VIRIN: | 260101-O-NQ323-4366 |
| Filename: | DOD_111469193 |
| Length: | 00:01:44 |
| Location: | US |
| Downloads: | 5 |
| High-Res. Downloads: | 5 |
This work, Low Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology Program | AFRL Discovery to Delivery, by Keith C Lewis, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
