F-22/JSF to be the last manned fighters?

[charrison]

X-45 flys for the first time


Flys at ~300mph with a range of ~750 miles and can carry 3 1000lbers.
12 of them fit in a c-5 so they can moved quickly anywhere.
Costs a 1/3 of a new f-16 and costs 75% less to maintain of its life.
It uses stealth tech, so it has a really small radar footprint.
1 "pilot" can fly multiple x-45s at once.
Lower pilot training costs.
Can fly completly on autopilot.
It could pull more Gs than any human could stand.
The air force hopes to have a swarm of them next year.

 

[Squisher]

That is neat.



My robotic planes will meet your robotic planes at high noon to decide the outcome of the war.

 

[Rainsford]

I'll believe it when I see it. There are certain things on a plane that a computer can do, no doubt about that, but there's something to be said for actually being in the plane and flying it yourself that I don't think any modern computer can duplicate.

Besides, does anyone else see the potential for problems here. Maybe not when we're bombing camel-riding terrorists, but high tech nations could possibly jam the signal to the planes. Sounds like a big whoops to me.

 

[bozack]

Actually I hope this catches on as it seems like a great idea...but then I was always a big fan of RC....

 

[Hammer]

That's were teleprescense comes in, but thats decades away still.

Originally posted by: Rainsford
I'll believe it when I see it. There are certain things on a plane that a computer can do, no doubt about that, but there's something to be said for actually being in the plane and flying it yourself that I don't think any modern computer can duplicate.

Besides, does anyone else see the potential for problems here. Maybe not when we're bombing camel-riding terrorists, but high tech nations could possibly jam the signal to the planes. Sounds like a big whoops to me.

 

[Random Variable]

F-22/JSF to be the last manned fighters?

I hope not.

 

[HappyPuppy]

I'm waiting for the RC infantry with AI.

 

[SuperTool]

If that happens, I wonder what the requirements physical and educational for pilots will be.
Good at flight sims? Welcome to the airforce

 

[DAPUNISHER]

The military sees such aircraft taking part in its most dangerous missions, usually in initial attacks to suppress enemy air defenses.

This is an excellent idea and does not seem poised to replace our human pilots but rather to help increase their chances of survival/success by eliminating one of the the primary threats to them.

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

The military sees such aircraft taking part in its most dangerous missions, usually in initial attacks to suppress enemy air defenses.

This is an excellent idea and does not seem poised to replace our human pilots but rather to help increase their chances of survival/success by eliminating one of the the primary threats to them.

Well the F-22/JSF still have 5-10 years before they are full use by the military. I see these drones going in rapid development since you dont have to worry about keeping a pilot alive. The x-45 is a first generation drone with weapons and it has the luxury of all the current tech attached to it. It is will probably only be a short time before they crank up the speed/payload.

 

[rahvin]

In other news:

The Department of defense has announced a new project code named "Skynet".

 

[MadRat]

Missile technology has so outpaced aircraft design that its now depressed the need for high performance manuevering. A stealth drone that can loiter at 80000 feet for weeks over a battlefield with several AAMs (even AMRAAM sized missiles could reach 100 miles from such a high launch point) would be as valuable as several F-15 fighters. The trick is to catch up GCI to the point where they can detect, identify and track every target from more than a few hundred miles out or this technology will be shooting down passenger airliners more than enemy jetfighters.

 

[dakata24]

it would totally suck if something malfunctioned..

 

[SHoddyCOmp]

I dont particularly like this idea, i kinda agree with Rainsford...

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: charrison

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

The military sees such aircraft taking part in its most dangerous missions, usually in initial attacks to suppress enemy air defenses.

This is an excellent idea and does not seem poised to replace our human pilots but rather to help increase their chances of survival/success by eliminating one of the the primary threats to them.

Well the F-22/JSF still have 5-10 years before they are full use by the military. I see these drones going in rapid development since you dont have to worry about keeping a pilot alive. The x-45 is a first generation drone with weapons and it has the luxury of all the current tech attached to it. It is will probably only be a short time before they crank up the speed/payload.

These shouldn't be meant to replace human piloted aircraft, but instead to complement them in certain circumstances. Remember, when you are flying by remote control, your reaction time will be down, so it'll be easier to shoot one of these down (the advantage being that even if the enemy does shoot one down, no pilots are lost). This holds particularly true if one remote pilot's controlling a number of these planes.

The benefit is that you can place these airplanes in higher-risk situations where you expect them to get shot down.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

Remote control can be jammed, and you still need to be able to monitor them constantly to be able to detect flaws in their AI.
The moment someone finds a way to beat it, logically that plane won't be able to return to you with that info, and all other planes will have the same vulnerability. Even with learning AI it cannot learn much anymore once it's destroyed eh?

 

[Nefrodite]

heh sweet once they get the ai working right no humans gonna touch these babies extreme g maneuvers and no fear

 

[Miramonti]

Cool.

Its always fun to have more ways to bomb people incessantly from the air so we don't have to send ground troups and lose any of our lives. This way we can litter any countryside we want with unexploded bombs and the only casualties are the enemy, oh and of course the future generations of farmers and innocent women and children, muchless anyone who wants to get out and about for some fresh air after the bombing is over.

 

[Nefrodite]

uh huh...


maybe we should just build suicide bomber robots and ship em over to the middle east. thats not bombing form the sky eh?

u make it sound like we bomb sh*t for fun its too expensive to bomb sh*t for fun. umanned bomber even harder to make

 

[AndrewR]

Not until they perfect electronic protection against extremely adverse electronic environments. Otherwise, a simple way to defeat drones would be to throw up a wall of electronic noise to blank out the control link. No communication = no pilot = no capability.

 

[Jimbo]

Its always fun to have more ways to bomb people incessantly from the air so we don't have to send ground troups and lose any of our lives. This way we can litter any countryside we want with unexploded bombs and the only casualties are the enemy, oh and of course the future generations of farmers and innocent women and children, muchless anyone who wants to get out and about for some fresh air after the bombing is over.

You say that like it's a bad thing

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: AndrewR
Not until they perfect electronic protection against extremely adverse electronic environments. Otherwise, a simple way to defeat drones would be to throw up a wall of electronic noise to blank out the control link. No communication = no pilot = no capability.

That is true unless the drone is on a completely preprogrammed mission where no pilot intervention is needed.

 

[MadRat]

Originally posted by: AndrewR
Not until they perfect electronic protection against extremely adverse electronic environments. Otherwise, a simple way to defeat drones would be to throw up a wall of electronic noise to blank out the control link. No communication = no pilot = no capability.

Emit signal and you draw attention to yourself.

 

[FrancesBeansRevenge]

Originally posted by: jjsole
Cool.

Its always fun to have more ways to bomb people incessantly from the air so we don't have to send ground troups and lose any of our lives. This way we can litter any countryside we want with unexploded bombs and the only casualties are the enemy, oh and of course the future generations of farmers and innocent women and children, muchless anyone who wants to get out and about for some fresh air after the bombing is over.

Sounds good to me! When do we start?

IMHO there should be a mod for X-box owners that allow them to pilot thier own drone.
Imagine how much fun it would be to unleash mass death upon the unsuspecting all from the comfort and safety of the couch?
It would be all the rage! Our enemies would never sleep safely again as there would be armies of 13yo's flying unmanned combat missions.
It's brilliant.

 

[element]

300 mph is slow as molasses in January in the sky, they would be sitting ducks. Great lets burn billions of tax dollars on lobbing sitting ducks at the enemy. You want to bomb using unmanned craft use cruise missiles.