Posted on 04/27/2015 7:49:29 AM PDT by BenLurkin
On April 22, 2015, the X47B UCAV became the first unmanned aircraft to be refueled in the air. It took place off the coast of Maryland and Virginia in the Atlantic Test Ranges.
“The F-35 is the Corp’s last manned tactical aircraft.” — Asst. Commandant, US Marine Corps
Theoretically, this design could stay airborne for weeks or even months, only being returned for developing malfunctions.
I see certain advantages to that capability.
Hollywood version: See the movie Stealth.
Now Obama can deliver one to Obama’s friends ,the enemies of the US
It's over. We've gone as far as we can the meatspace.
Makes sense. I read somewhere that in a modern fighter, as much as 40% of weight and space is dedicated to keeping the pilot alive.
Which means the next step is to make them fully automated so that a command (Barry) can order them to fire on Americans whereas a pilot can always say no.
Sad days. They are even trying to dry up the need for humans in the military so there are no job anywhere unless you are a programmer, college professor, or politician.
Does anyone know if electronic signal jamming of drone control telemetry is a significant threat?
What about a bad actor taking out the land bases control signal / antenna to disable flight control of the drone?
It seems very premature to proclaim unmanned drones will eliminate future need for manned military fighter aircraft.
” I read somewhere that in a modern fighter, as much as 40% of weight and space is dedicated to keeping the pilot alive.”
Not just keeping him alive. Avionics and flight controls add a HUGE amount of weight. Unmanned systems need computers too, but a lot of weight in a manned system is there to present information to the pilot (HUD, displays, audible tone/voice systems, the canopy itself, indicators lights, etc.) Or allow him/her to control things (switches, nobs, HOTAS, etc). For every extra device or control panel you need structure to firmly attach it in the cockpit. All that extra gear requires larger electric generators and, more complex cooling systems (in the F-35 it is liquid cooling). Human pilots also need voice communication. They have digital communication too, and that is all an unmanned system needs, so there are ‘extra’ radios on manned systems.
Just giving the pilot a padded seat and some air is the easy part.
Your point is valid and the threat is real. However people predicting the demise of all manned fighters are doing so based on expecting the F-22 and F-35 to last for another 20-30 years. We aren’t saying we can get rid of manned systems now, but they are saying manned systems will be obsolete in 20-30 years. The idea is this, yeah you can jam a drone and make it have to rely on internal systems and sensors... but even jammed it will out perform an manned system.
There are a number of directions technology could turn which would negate this trend and the trend is for TACTICAL systems. We may still require ‘drone mother ships’ that are manned and using unjam-able line of sight communication (laser link, etc). It is a fairly complex trade off analysis that says manned tactical platforms will go away. And they could still be proven wrong. 40 years ago they thought fighters did not need guns anymore. I expect the manned versus unmanned debate still has many surprises in store for us.
“By your command.”
The Clintons just put this on their list of cool stuff to sell to our enemies.
Okay so now that testing is successful, Obama can turn over a completed product to his Iranian colleagues.
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