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Drones operating in the fighter plane envelope are going to be basically the same plane. Which the US is wholly aware of given the "Loyal Wingman" program, whi
by XorNot 3y ago
Drones operating in the fighter plane envelope are going to be basically the same plane.
Which the US is wholly aware of given the "Loyal Wingman" program, which the F-35 is designed to work with: commanding unmanned fighters/aircraft as support or missile trucks if what have you
- imtringued 3y agoThis is one of the things I never understood. "Cheap drones" is a code word for Chinese made quadrocopter toys. Military drones will be fixed wing and have combustion engines. Suddenly things start getting expensive and you can no longer have a million plastic toys for the price of one F35, you'll get 3 reapers or maybe a dozen "Wingmen". The closest analog would be converting cessnas. Half a million dollars plus drone kit = 1 million dollar bomber => 75 bombers or one F-35. At that price point one might start thinking about sending the bombers first (to deplete air defenses), then the F-35s...