Britain and France Build Robocarrier

strategy page ^ | March 9, 2006

[strategofr]

Interesting

[King Prout]

Interesting

indeed

[buccaneer81]

Believe it when I see it.

[Anti-Bubba182]

". An aircraft carrier must fight, and find the enemy, and do a lot of other stuff...."

Automation will be fine until something goes really wrong, like a big fire or bomb or missle hit.

[andyk]

All three carriers are expected to be in service by the middle of the next decade.

Interesting article.

[Army Air Corps]

When I saw the word "Robocarrier" I started thinking of mecca from anime...

[andyk]

Automation will be fine until something goes really wrong, like a big fire or bomb or missle hit.

I'm sure there are some activities that can be automated. But, I can't help but agree with you - when the SHTF, you're going to need sailors.

[Cicero]

The thing about war is that you never can plan for all the contingencies. You need people who have the training and intelligence to respond to whatever happens, often something unexpected.

I'd be a bit worried about a carrier where the nearest person might be a couple of decks and a couple of hundred yards away from a sudden emergency. Maybe it could still be handled, but it's a concern.

Also, a certain amount of redundancy is important. What happens if all your key personnel in some area of expertise get killed? Fewer personnel, less redundancy, fewer backups to take the place of the killed and wounded.

[Dark Knight]

I hope the French remember to build the flight deck long enough for takeoffs. I heard they mucked up one carrier by ten feet.

DK

[King Prout]

mecha, not mecca... nor MEChA neither
those two latter need nuking, the former needs naught but adulation

[Army Air Corps]

Sorry, doing three things at once on ye olde computer.

[USNBandit]

You could cut the manning of a U.S. carrier in half if you could come up with a robotic floor buffer. :)

[thackney]

ping

[King Prout]

oh, ok, I forgive you

[Robe]

I hope the French remember to build the flight deck long enough for takeoffs. I heard they mucked up one carrier by ten feet.

I also hope they put the "cotter pins" on the props this time!!!

[Londo Molari]

The french carrier will have a special robot called the de gaul mechanism that will fire a white flag high into the air at the slightest sign of a fight

[adamsjas]

Sounds like an excellent idea in peace time, (and we all know the French boat will never see action) but the Brits should know that you can't fight a damaged ship and save it at the same time. You can maybe do one or the other with a crew that small, but not both.

[Dark Knight]

I also hope they put the "cotter pins" on the props this time!!!<<

You've GOT to be joking...did they really?

DK

[miliantnutcase]

It's taking us years and hundreds of millions just to get robot pickers installed in our grocery warehouse. Good luck with the carriers...

[Robe]

Robocarriers.. reminds me of the old joke about the first completely automated airplane......
The "captains announcement" is something like this ....
Welcome aboard the worlds first completely automated air plane.. i assure you we has thought of every possible malfunction and nothing can go wrong..go wrong..go wrong..go wrong..go wrong..go wrong..go wrong..go wrong..