Fighter Pilots, an Endangered Species?

[Caraway]

Check this link.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/04/19/combat.drone.ap/index.html
Flight sim nerds, the new elite!

[cold0]

The role of UCAV is limited, in the near future, to the SED/DEAD and Strike. There's no prevision for a "fighter" UCAV, and the UCAV will operate side by side with the piloted fighters for many years.

So, the machines are rising, but no so fast....

[Ghostwolf]

I don't think flight sim nerds would be any use when it comes to UCAV.
It flies and lands automatically and requires no human control, the only
human factor required is to supervise, and authorizes the unmanned
drone to attack targets only.

Are the fighter pilots an endanger species? Not quite yet. The
programmed unmanned drone cannot react to battlefield situation changes
fast enough, and they could become easy targets for the enemy fighter
pilots.

So I don't think unmanned air dominance fighter drones will be
available any time soon, unless they can manufacture unmanned aircrafts
which can fly faster, outmaneuvers, and can sustain more Gs than any
other manned fighter aircrafts. Aside from that, this type of aircraft will
require special programs, perhaps an AI program designed for military
drones would be suitable for this type of job.

Battelfield situation awareness and digitization are the keys to future
battlefield success.

[HELEX]

So I don't think unmanned air dominance fighter drones will be
available any time soon, unless they can manufacture unmanned aircrafts
which can fly faster, outmaneuvers, and can sustain more Gs than any
other manned fighter aircrafts.

I think thats totally wrong, UCAV can sustain more than 10 times the G-Force of a manned vehicle. Flying faster is just a construction thing, what should be the Problem? They have a reaction time of less than 1 Milisecond, a Human has 1 whole second reaction time, they will rule a close range..... Anyway, there is no difficulty in flying in that direction the Awacs says you have to and then fire the Missiles at Standoff ranges.

There is only one Problem: The Satelite link. When you disable the Satelites the UCAV will not be able to navigate properly or "ask" for what to do.
That is the reason for the new "Missile Defense" System wich is in reality a Satelite attack system.

[radon]

The ai is most likely the issue here. Altough I dont know anything about this.

[cold0]

There's nothing impossibile to built a UCAV cabable to substain 11+ G acceleration; for some aspects is simpler and cheaper to built a UCAV than an aircraft (the UCAV doesn't neeed a cockpit, an ejector seat a canopy).

But today it's possible to "fuse" a sophisticated AI, with all sensors (radar, optronics, IR ect.) necessary to substite an human pilot with an artificial one. So it's simple to data link a "mindless" robot to go from waypoint A to a waypoint B a drop a bomb, but it's beyond the "present day" tecnology to build a robot capable to identify, select and attack its target without an external input (from a secure data-link).

Regards,

[cold0]

A interesting article about "the rise of machines" and the inerent problems, taken from the good Armada Magazine:

Link: http://www.armada.ch/04-1/article-online.cfm

[Ghostwolf]

In order for an UCAV to replace a human pilot, it will have to perform
every single task that a human pilot would, from BVR engagement to
close in dogfight, from long range standoff attack to close air support and
so on, all of that stuff it has to be capable to performing without human
interference.

The UCAV so far only proves itself to be a somewhat capable aerial
bombing platform. But when it comes to air to air combat and
countering incoming missile threat, I don't think it is "smart" enough
to do either dogfighting or evading missiles on its own. Perhaps a
different aircraft design and better software would do the job.

[csqnsas]

Just a eye opener.

How come the UAV "operators" in the US forces "must" pass the same medical as a pilot?

They even have to have a ECG and G test?