Lockheed Says F-35 Could Fly Pilotless

The Washington Post ^ | August 16, 2006 | Washington Post Staff Writer

[reagandemo]

Lockheed Martin Corp. has proposed an unmanned version of its Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35, which would make it the first full-scale fighter to operate without a pilot and signal the Bethesda weapons maker's push into the growing market for drone aircraft.

[reagandemo]

Hal open the pod bay doors....Hal

[Sax]

"Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer do...I'm half crazy, all for the love of you..."

[dartuser]

That's a pretty expensive drone ... lol.

[Hydroshock]

The Blue Screen Of Death From Above.

[Sax]

Bell Labs: Where "HAL" First Spoke
One of the more famous moments in Bell Labs' synthetic speech research was the sample created by John L. Kelly in 1962, using an IBM 704 computer. Kelly's vocoder synthesizer recreated the song "Bicycle Built for Two," with musical accompaniment from Max Mathews. Arthur C. Clarke, then visiting friend and colleague John Pierce at the Bell Labs Murray Hill facility, saw this remarkable demonstration and later used it in the climactic scene of his novel and screenplay for "2001: A Space Odyssey," where the HAL9000 computer sings this song as he is disassembled by astronaut Dave Bowman.

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

Wow, so playing video games can now be considered job training.

[ASA Vet]

That's a pretty expensive drone

How expensive is a live pilot?

[TommyDale]

This aircraft has some very sophisticated electronics on board.

[HEY4QDEMS]

[Red Badger]

Just imagine if you remove the limitations of a live pilot (g-forces, black outs, etc) then this would be an awesome weapon! Push the limits of the metal itself!..............

[TommyDale]

Imagine a pilot in another aircraft controlling this one.

[longtermmemmory]

Ronald Reagan the visionary strikes again.

(they made fun of him then, now the democrats are DEMANDING the missile shield.)

[reagandemo]

"Just imagine if you remove the limitations of a live pilot (g-forces, black outs, etc) then this would be an awesome weapon! Push the limits of the metal itself!.............."

I had a discussion with PukinDog a year or so about this happening. He said that they would never do away with the human factor (pilot). I agreed to a point only that the pilot would be flying remotely.

[Tennessee_Bob]

And high school graduates fixing it all on the ground.

God, I loved being a jet engine mechanic on fighters.

[Red Badger]

The "pilot" could be safe on the ground in Edwards AFB flying by satellit remote. That's how the Predators are, I believe.......

[Blueflag]

All on line gamers know about "lag." Lag = death or destruction in a real life RPV.

How in the world they expect to control an aircraft in an ACM environment is a mystery. Also, per Pukin Dog, a human is better at 'options' that aren't in the software.

[TommyDale]

On this aircraft, the "pilot" could be just about anywhere.

[ASA Vet]

Wow, so playing video games can now be considered job training

[Young Werther]

...and reduce its cost. No ejection seat, no parachute,and no life support subsystems. Years ago someone suggested that the fighters of the future could be made of paper and aluminum foil. They would carry missiles and rockets and when completing their primary mission they would kamikaze a final target and not be brought back home.

Old issue of Aviation Week somewhere in my garage, (have read the book for over 45 years!!!)

[TommyDale]

"And high school graduates fixing it all on the ground."

Maybe parts of it...