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>Carrier based attack drone Drones were science fiction back in the early 90's when the F-35 program was started. Even today they can't even come close to outp

>Carrier based attack drone Drones were science fiction back in the early 90's when the F-35 program was started. Even today they can't even come close to outperforming a skilled human pilot in a combat scenario. (Although perhaps if it were Google working on the hardware and software it'd be doable).

wavefunction 10y ago
What if that skilled human pilot was flying a "drone"/unmanned craft rather than sitting in the cockpit? I imagine there are benefits to being "in-person" but the unmanned craft could theoretically endure far more extreme maneuvers that would leave a human pilot unconscious or dead.
- mjevans 10y ago
  Most of that benefit is that you still have something capable of mission decisions when an enemy engages in jamming or other information distortion tactics. On the positive side for 'drones': they can be viewed as both expendable (with costs/limits) and capable of performing maneuvers that would kill a human. I can see narrow beam transmissions on multiple carriers and extremely fault resistant communication protocols combining with remotely manned vehicles. The pilots might best be closer for speed of light delay reduction, but realistically you could have a relay in some kind of helicopter type vehicle a short distance from the actual fight, and the expert pilots stationed somewhere even more safe. While you're at it, that helicopter/blimp/etc could also be your primary communication platform for a local region; it's already a high value target so there's little reason not to use it as an additional uplink.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
dragonwriter 10y ago
> Drones were science fiction back in the early 90's when the F-35 program was started. AFAICT, the first armed drones deployed by the US military were ASW drone helicopters in the 1960s. Ground attack jet drones were successfully tested in the 1970s, and some preliminary and positive testing on air-to-air combat drones also happened in the 1970s. Drones certainly weren't science-fiction in the early 1990s, even if the military hadn't gotten around to actually fielding armed drones (despite the tests) beyond those old Navy ASW drones.
toomuchtodo 10y ago
> Even today they can't even come close to outperforming a skilled human pilot in a combat scenario. The Navy's X-47B "Salty Dog" got pretty damn close (before the program was cancelled). It can take off, on-air refuel, and land back on a carrier with no human input. http://dronecenter.bard.edu/chronicle-of-the-salty-dogs-x-47b/ http://dronecenter.bard.edu/chronicle-of-the-salty-dogs-x-47... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twdCdlo3BtA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twdCdlo3BtA

wavefunction 10y ago

What if that skilled human pilot was flying a "drone"/unmanned craft rather than sitting in the cockpit? I imagine there are benefits to being "in-person" but the unmanned craft could theoretically endure far more extreme maneuvers that would leave a human pilot unconscious or dead.

mjevans 10y ago
Most of that benefit is that you still have something capable of mission decisions when an enemy engages in jamming or other information distortion tactics. On the positive side for 'drones': they can be viewed as both expendable (with costs/limits) and capable of performing maneuvers that would kill a human. I can see narrow beam transmissions on multiple carriers and extremely fault resistant communication protocols combining with remotely manned vehicles. The pilots might best be closer for speed of light delay reduction, but realistically you could have a relay in some kind of helicopter type vehicle a short distance from the actual fight, and the expert pilots stationed somewhere even more safe. While you're at it, that helicopter/blimp/etc could also be your primary communication platform for a local region; it's already a high value target so there's little reason not to use it as an additional uplink.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

dragonwriter 10y ago

> Drones were science fiction back in the early 90's when the F-35 program was started. AFAICT, the first armed drones deployed by the US military were ASW drone helicopters in the 1960s. Ground attack jet drones were successfully tested in the 1970s, and some preliminary and positive testing on air-to-air combat drones also happened in the 1970s. Drones certainly weren't science-fiction in the early 1990s, even if the military hadn't gotten around to actually fielding armed drones (despite the tests) beyond those old Navy ASW drones.

toomuchtodo 10y ago

> Even today they can't even come close to outperforming a skilled human pilot in a combat scenario. The Navy's X-47B "Salty Dog" got pretty damn close (before the program was cancelled). It can take off, on-air refuel, and land back on a carrier with no human input. http://dronecenter.bard.edu/chronicle-of-the-salty-dogs-x-47b/ http://dronecenter.bard.edu/chronicle-of-the-salty-dogs-x-47... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twdCdlo3BtA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twdCdlo3BtA