[Red Badger]

AVIATION PING!........................

[BenLurkin]

[MtnClimber]

I want one!

[Brian Griffin]

I would think a drone would often best be a flying machine as small as can carry a lethal weapon.

small, cheap, plentiful, lethal

[I-ambush]

The cockpit is for the corps of genetically modified chimpanzees the DOD is developing.

[nwrep]

Why are we still celebrating the military industrial complex pukes and their DEI stunts (notice the women aircraft workers intentionally highlighted)?

[Jotmo]

I have the answer.

Brake rider.

Yep.

The USAF has always had a rule that aircraft cannot be towed anywhere without someone in the cockpit ready to stomp on the brakes in case the tow bar got disconnected for some reason. The “Brake Rider”.

I guess the safety goons in the Air Force were unwilling to compromise.

[Gen.Blather]

The German V1’s were fitted with a cockpit so that they could be flight tested. After they’d perfected the design for flight the cockpit was deleted and replaced with a bomb.

[GreyFriar]

The early prototypes of the V-1 flying bomb, Fieseler Fi 103 [Flakzielgerät 76 (FZG-76)] had a cockpit. Famed German aviatrix Hanna Reitsch did several test flights in a piloted version of it. That version never went into production.

[Track9]

Where else are you going to put the inflatable pilot.

[bigbob]

Looks like a Bonanza on steroids

[Yo-Yo]

My theory: When the F-35 was being developed from the X-35, the airframe and powerplant were relatively easy, but the integrated software and processors required for the novel sensor fusion to drive the Helmet Mounted Cueing System (HMCS) that replaced the Heads Up Display (HUD) on the cockpit dash was harder to develop than anticipated. This delayed the F-35 by almost 10 years. Software is a continuing issue for the F-35.

If this aircraft is supposed to be a fully autonomous flying vehicle that can perform meaningful combat missions, then the software to do so will be years (maybe decades) away from being ready, so putting a pilot and controls in the test airframe will allow development of the aircraft and powerplant without having to wait for software. (That may never arrive...)

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"An optionally manned variant with the cockpit canopy being replaced by a fairing that can enclose satellite communications systems, avionics, and possibly additional sensors, would fit with Scaled Composite’s past offerings."

Converting a manned aircraft to an OPTIMALLY autonomous one is far more complicated than just slapping on a fairing where the canopy was. There are lots of complex, heavy systems that are needed to keep a pilot alive that can be eliminated. The article provides lots of good reasons why you need a pilot during the development program, but ultimately you need to get to a clean-sheet-of-paper design that is optimized for no pilot from the get-go. It'll probably take several generations of unmanned fighters to get to that point.

[Semper Vigilantis]

Maybe it’s to house a gimble or fluid mounted camera that can mimic human head movement so the ‘pilot’ sits safely in a simulator type cockpit and flies the plane remotely.

[StAnDeliver]

Insertions and retrievals. Another tool in the kit.

[shotgun]

Could it be that they built this prototype with a cockpit so a test pilot could monitor it during flight? Just sit back and enjoy the ride but if the SHTF during test flights, then they take-over?

[glorgau]

Fighter pilot mafia wins out again.

[mcmuffin]

Northrop’s Stealthy Drone Breaks Cover… And It Has A Cockpit!?

No girls allowed.

[JohnnyP]

It will be manned by a pilot and a dog.

The man is there to feed the dog, the dog is there to bite the man if he touches anything.

[doorgunner69]

If it is supposed to perform close in air to air, that top mounted intake may be an issue.

I read decades ago that the intake is starved dutring high AOA maneuvers. Great for stealth, not so good for aerobatics.