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Removing humans from the cockpit frees designers up to do a lot more than save weight. The big restriction with human pilots is a ceiling for how much G you can
by Arubis 5y ago
Removing humans from the cockpit frees designers up to do a lot more than save weight. The big restriction with human pilots is a ceiling for how much G you can pull before your precious human cargo blacks out. Silicon has no such restrictions; you can turn as hard as your fuselage will allow.
- mc32 5y agoAlso endurance. Now you're only limited to hardware endurance and refueling capabilities rather than pilot fatigue --affording much better performance.
- melling 5y agoAn unmanned hypersonic SR-71 successor. Lower speed reconnaissance jets that are always in the air? Refueled in the air from drone planes.
- nradov 5y agoSatellites are the SR-71 successor. Lower speed persistent reconnaissance is provided by the low-observable RQ-170 and RQ-180 drones.
- nradov 5y agoHumans can endure for quite a long time if they have to. A manned B-2 bomber flew a 44 hour combat mission. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36643/u-s-strategic-command-tweet-throws-shade-on-russias-long-range-bomber-mission https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36643/u-s-strategic-co...
- pantulis 5y agoConspiracy hat on: maybe that's what all the UAP craze is about.
- nradov 5y agoIn the real world ability to pull more G's is of limited value. It mostly only matters when defending against a missile after all else has failed. Building an airframe strong enough to handle that load incurs a huge weight penalty. The UCAVs built so far are actually stressed to lower G loads than manned tactical aircraft.
- deepnotderp 5y agoAlso, imho AI fundamentally changes how machines of war are made. Currently, a machine must be made expensive and sophisticated since a human is inside it, and if it's already expensive, may as well add some more expense to make it a bit better, and a bit more, etc. By contrast, with AI, the question becomes a matter of performance per dollar. If I can swarm an enemy with hundreds of cheap fighter jets, then it's okay for me to lose half of them. This is existential to the US imho, since the US generally always has the best equipment period, but at a very high cost.
- nradov 5y agoThere is no way to build a cheap AI controlled fighter jet while still retaining any degree of usefulness. They can perhaps be made marginally cheaper but building airframes, engines, sensors, and weapons will still be extremely expensive. MQ-25 unit cost is in the $150M range.