“I’m sure it can be done but no one has really tried to shoot down an F-35 or F-22.”
The economics of stealth is questionable. We invest huge amounts of money in a plane, which at its inception has x capability to penetrate defenses. The plane’s technology will remain relatively static over its life. The detection systems, however, are relatively cheap and will benefit from Moore’s law as time goes on. They will be more and more networked and process faster and faster. I think, eventually, the platforms we have invested in so heavily will be next to useless. So what if it has the footprint of a sparrow if the system looking for it reports a sparrow doing Mach .8?
Frankly, I think we have bet too heavily on the wrong horse. I’d like to see more investment in autonomous drones. They are relatively disposable and relatively cheap.
$12,548,710.60. — the cost, per drone, of 10 MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft the Air Force announced Monday that it is buying. Drones are a lot of things, but cheap ain't necessarily one of them. Nov 6, 2012