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F/A-18's are a dime a dozen right now (not literally obviously). There's a bunch of old ones coming off the line and being refit as ... no joke, drones for targ
by ryanmarsh 7y ago
F/A-18's are a dime a dozen right now (not literally obviously). There's a bunch of old ones coming off the line and being refit as ... no joke, drones for target practice for other drones.
There's a remote-fly-by-wire package they install that apparently has been around for quite a while. I guess this means they're also developing a remotely controlled or AI based fighter platform but they wouldn't confirm, just that these new "drones" get shot down by other "drones".
Source: I was given a tour of the facility and told what they were doing with the old F-18's. Pretty wild.
- justin66 7y agoThey did the same thing with a lot of classic fighter jets, including all of the century series and the F-4. (I imagine plenty of F-16s have been used as drones as well.) It's reminiscent of the way you can buy spectacular used luxury cars for a song once they've got a certain amount of wear and miles on the odometer. Maintaining them and accounting for the future cost of repairs makes their value drop precipitously.
- angry_octet 7y agoThose are ex-USN (or shudder original USMC) F/A-18s, that have seen very hard use. I wouldn't be happy flying in one. In contrast the RAAF Hornets are almost mint. I don't know about using them for drone target practice though, Loyal Wingman (ugh, what a name) only got to WoW the other day. More likely advanced tactics development for manned aircraft.