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