Attention Fighter Pilots: Your Job is at Risk

[Dr Mordrid]

It seems the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has a suprise option coming down the road. Not only will it come in 3 versions; USAF, US NAVY (carrier based) and a VTOL version for the Marines to replace the Harrier, it can also be modded to be a UCAV (Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle).

This was posted by Popular Sciences blog today by one of their writers;

http://popsci.typepad.com/popsci/200...ion_fight.html

Attention Fighter Pilots: Your Job is at Risk

I hereby admit to being excited about the movie Stealth about this time last year, and for making my friends come and see it with me. I was expecting to enjoy laughing at what I presumed would be entertaining ridiculousness; instead, the laughter that fateful night in the theater was only to help make the pain go away.

Today I'm laughing again about unmanned aerial vehicles, but this time it's that through-the-teeth kind, indicating nervous apprehension—or maybe even fear. Today Lockheed Martin announced its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter could someday be modified to fly pilotless, making it the world’s first full-scale fighter aircraft with remote-operation capabilities.

This marks Lockheed's first major jump into the world of unmanned military aircraft--a field being heavily developed by weapons manufacturers which most have conceded will some day replace all conventionally-piloted military jets. In fact, many experts have projected that the F-35 could be the last major fighter to be designed with an onboard human pilot in mind. And while all of this has an obvious air of practicality, I can't help but feel more than a bit creeped out by the whole thing. I don't think I have to worry about our fighter jets achieving full Stealth-style sentience just yet, but still: a little more than 100 years ago, no one really believed we would ever even get off the ground.

—John Mahoney

And this at Boston.com

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/08/15/lockheed_developing_unmanned_f_35_jet/

That last paragraph sounds like the scenario in the movie "Stealth"; manned fighters and UCAV's in a blended fighter wing.

How would you like to be the first MIG/Mirage etc. pilot to engage one of those only to have it pull a 20 G turn right in front of you? Talk about "Shock and Awe"

[KvHagedorn]

Alright, when everyone has these, can we please just play video games to decide the outcome of wars? It would be a lot less expensive.

[Jessterw]

Wargasm

[VJ]

Alright, when everyone has these, can we please just play video games to decide the outcome of wars? It would be a lot less expensive.

This reminds me of a movie, but I can't remember which one.

Wars are decided using a computer game, after which the number of casualties are killed in real life. The idea was that at least infrastructure etc. would remain.
(ok, it was a weird sci-fi concept movie )


But one has to admit: to see a plane like that fly unmanned must be an amazing sight.

Jörg

[Technoid]

This reminds me of a movie, but I can't remember which one.

Wars are decided using a computer game, after which the number of casualties are killed in real life. The idea was that at least infrastructure etc. would remain.
(ok, it was a weird sci-fi concept movie )


But one has to admit: to see a plane like that fly unmanned must be an amazing sight.

Jörg

Also an Startrek TOS ep

[VJ]

Oh yes, it is coming back to me now...


Jörg

[KvHagedorn]

Yeah the terror of war had been removed so it just went on and on.. Kirk (in true Kirk style) blew up the extermination chambers and gave them back their real war.

[Greebe]

Being in R/C Aircraft for some decades now have known for years that the days of fighter pilots was longer than it should have been. Some of the stuff that Boeing, Israel and Brits have in the pipe and coming is quite frighting both for those in Combat and during peace time civilian uses.

Israel has one really sweet little electric powered Delta that's made from Kevlar with a camera and grenades. Can fly that puppy through a window and knock out snipers and what not with ease.

When people mention planes like the Predator I laugh... that's nothing. They don't understand the Physics of people in planes limit what the plane can do, or that R/C Aircraft can do what no one on earth could withstand.

FYI

At the last Top Gun in late April Bob Violett Model Jets showed off their Turbine powered Ultra Bandit and broke the sound barrier! A new World record. The reason I don't think anyone heard about this is that todo so violated both the AMA and FAA rules.

BTW with models it's not really a sonic BOOM, tis more like a sonic CRACK

psst, startup cost on one of these is ~$16-20k

[Dr Mordrid]

World, meet Dominator;

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2006/q3/060718d_nr.html

Boeing Persistent Munition Technology Demonstrator Achieves Autonomous Flight

ST. LOUIS, July 18, 2006 -- The Boeing [NYSE: BA] Persistent Munition Technology Demonstrator (PMTD), a test bed for future unmanned aerial vehicles, flew autonomously for the first time during a test in April at Vandalia Municipal Airport, Ill.

Boeing developed the 60-pound PMTD to demonstrate emerging technologies through incremental upgrades and flight demonstration phases. With a wingspan of 12 feet, the vehicle's airframe is designed for extended loiter times, air or surface launch and other potential capabilities.

During the test, the PMTD navigated to 14 programmed locations flawlessly, changed altitudes at four different points and achieved pre-planned speeds.

"The PMTD is intended to serve as a test bed for future small unmanned aerial vehicles and persistent weapon technologies," said Carl Avila, director, Advanced Weapons and Missile Systems for Boeing. "We're looking forward to working with our U.S. Air Force customer to define a PMTD demonstration plan to enable development of future warfighter capabilities."

After taxi and take off, the remote-controlled vehicle immediately switched to autonomous flight mode. After completing its pre-planned flight profile, the PMTD lined up on the runway for pilot takeover and landing.

"The engineering challenge of reducing weight and cost while improving performance is the type of project that really excites us," said EDO Corporation CEO James M. Smith. "We are extremely pleased to bring our experience with lightweight composite materials to the Dominator team."

EDO Corporation funded the PMTD composite airframe development, and Boeing funded all PMTD flight tests.

This first phase of the PMTD program focused on demonstrating autonomous flight capabilities. Future plans include sensor integration and enhanced weapon terminal guidance demonstration, as well as possible in-flight refueling and munitions dispense testing.

[Greebe]

Hate to say this Doc...

Yawn... it's an autopilot control system test bed only

[Nowhere]

And did someone forgot in this case about "if it looks good, it flies good"?

BTW...which Star Trek episode?

[Dr Mordrid]

F-35 has 360 degree sensors for remote c&c and yes, it is a stealth fighter. Raptor is too.

For the U.S. Air Force the F-35A will replace the A-10 "Warthog" and the F-16 Falcon. For the U.S. Marine Corps the F-35B will replace the Harrier "Jump Jet". For the U.S. Navy the F-35C will replace the F/A-18A, B, C, and D and the F-14 Tomcat.

Dominator is a testbed but for other techs besides autonomy. One design would carry Skeet EFP munitions, dropping them on several poor souls before taking out a final target in a suicide dive. Skeets look like a hockey puck that wobbles on the way down, searching for a target over a wide area. Once it finds one it becomes a shaped charge that blows a cloud of vaporized copper into the target. Nasty. If no target is found it commits suicide in the air.

One mission they've been testing is to use a cooperative "robot swarm" of up to 100 Dominators, each communicating with the others so as not to attack the same target unnecessarily. Since it has a long loiter this would be used to deny an opponent of a large territory.

[dZeus]

Thread resurrection:
Here's a (year old) video commentary on the F35 by a military aircraft designer.

spoiler alert: he does not like the F35 much

[Dr Mordrid]

Just a note.

The Black Hawk helicopter is being prepped to fly autonomous missions. More military rotorcraft drones coming.