Wow check out the Darpa site!

[Sulph8]

Has anyone been to the Darpa (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) homepage? They are working on some truly amazing stuff, I highly recommend taking a look: www.darpa.mil
Click on 'DARPA programs' on the left.

[hood]

Yeah, some pretty amazing stuff. It's been said that the new Joint Direct Fighter will be the last manned aircraft that's built. Everything will be unmanned and the DARPA site shows just how much they're focusing on unmanned and now autonimous vehicles. Imagine what the protesters will say when we send our 'troops' out to win a war without deploying any people.

[papabear]

We'll have to see how the Predator does in combat, but I would be really surprised if unmanned aircraft ever become a significant portion of the air forces. The Predator seems to be doing well against stationary targets, but how will it do against mobile targets? Does it, or any unmanned craft, do an adequate job of close ground support?

It seems to me some in the military are still too obsessed with expensive, technology-heavy toys. I wish they would focus more on the simple things that will make life for the infantry easier, and enable them to be more effective in fulfilling their roles. Also, the use of too much technology make be making us too dependent on those tools--GPS is a good tool, but I wonder if anecdotal stories about how necessary skills, like learning how to read a map and navigating without the use of a GPS, are being de-emphasized, and may be gradually lost. "Hi-tech" tools may be good, but there should be a vigilant attitude towards maintaining those skills which will enable our troops to survive should those tools fail. Nothing can replace the "lo-tech" wonder of the human mind.

[Ratamacue]

If I remember correctly, a Predator was successfully able to take out a convoy carrying VIPs somewhere in Afghanistan with Hellfire missiles.

The advantage with unmanned aircraft is that you don't need to worry about having pilots being shot down, the aircraft can pull MUCH higher G-forces because the pilot doesn't have to, and most of all, the pilot can go to the bathroom with the autopilot on ;)

[Sulph8]

I think you mean Yemen not Afghanistan. Something interesting i found was the Babylon system. You talk in english, and it comes out in the language you need so you can communicate with the locals. It's like something from star trek.
http://www.darpa.mil/iao/Babylon.htm

[96B]

I agree that total reliance on technology is a serious weakness. Imagine if that technology were taken out, we would be defenseless. I am highly confident that as technology gets better, it will be implimented to be in the place of a human being so we dont have to worry about losing a human, but I think that we wont let it get out of hand, the skills of infantry will still be emphasized just in differant ways as the technology evolves.

[ssgt. 50 cal.]

That Babylon system is pretty sweet. It does look like something from Star Trek but it's still cool. Where can I get one of those, it might help w/ my french class right now.

[GazB]

UAVs are useful tools but are very easy to shoot down.
In kosovo the Serbs shot several down simply by flying along beside them in a helo and shooting them down with a PKM GPMG.
Even simple cheap shoulder launched missiles can be used to engage UAVs at low level and at high level a cheap trainer aircraft like a Hawk or Yak-130 or L-39 could simly shoot them down with cannon fire.
The advantage of UAVs is their lack of expensive and heavy defencive equipemnt and avionics.
Start adding stuff like that and they become very expensive and complicated.

[Ratamacue]

The reason UAVs are so easy to shoot down is because they're basically a thin case of metal with an engine, a camera, transponder, and fly-by-wire system.

It would take very little work to take, say, an F16, and turn it in to a UAV. Yes, it may be more expensive than a manned vehicle, however, but can you top the price of a human life (in reference to the pilot)?

The biggest problem I see with the UAV is situational awareness. Unless you actually create a system of 360-degrees-worth of cameras looking all around the UAV (and a room lined with monitors to display it), you can't really see anything except what's infront of you, most likely developing the reliance on instruments/technology even further.

Basically, though, my uncle, who used to work with Lockheed Martin (Electrical Engineer) on plenty of classified projects (including the future Space Shuttle), says that UAVs ARE going to be the only planes we have within 30 years at most. I don't see anything too bazaar about that either.

[GearGod]

"Imagine what the protesters will say when we send our 'troops' out to win a war without deploying any people"

They'll say innocent people will die. And keep this in mind: Despite any technological advantages that our armed forces might have over an enemy, only close combat between ground forces gains the
decision in battle

[Sulph8]

Oh my god! Think of all the machines that will die! oh i cant take this, ohhhh! Who will be the one to knock on the doors of the families of all those brave young machines!?

[budanski]

Johnny Five must be a proud Grandpa

[GazB]

The fact that they tend to fly straight and level on autopilot and take no evasive manouvers also makes them literally easy targets too.


In the 50s and 60s the British defence ministry decided to halt all development of fighters because missiles made them obsolete (ie cruise missiles in attack and SAMs in defence).

Saying the future lies with UAV reminds me of those decisions...

[Trigger]

This thread sounds like a 'Terminator' sequel :D