The tighter flying, without having to worry about killing the pilot/crew with too many g's, will really expand the ability over drones of manned fliers.
In my opinion, it is inevitable and should be a USA strategic goal now. Sorry to all you hairy-chested, silk scarf-wearing knights of the sky! I'm looking at you, General McPeak and your v-neck t-shirts!
DO you want Skynet. Because this is how you get Skynet.
:)
““There is no level four, fully autonomous vehicle out on the roads today,” he said, despite several companies investing billions of dollars in the idea. “On the other hand, that’s a decade worth of experience we should be pulling into the military because they’ve learned so much.””
Cars are not a good example. Flying autonomously is far, far, easier than driving autonomously. Fedex planes fly themselves. They still have pilots in them. But unless the pilot is bored and wants to land it himself, they take off, fly and land autonomously.
If we (or the Chinese) put effort into fighter drones, they will be very, very successful and push manned fighters out of the sky.
Sounds good. Until the radio link is jammed. Or it gets out of range. Remotely controlled high speed maneuvers in real time will need instantaneous comms at all times so SATCOM doesn't sound like an option as a data link.
I trust the pilot’s callsign is Starbuck.