The F-35

[SteelCurtain]

I don't really know, but I would think duplicating sitrep in an unmanned drone would be very difficult. Not to mention the Vietnam experience in which we gave up on dogfighting because it was believed that the era was past, only to get our butts kicked when that rosy prediction turned out to be wrong.

Yup. And thus the F-14 comes like 2 years too late.

[Autumnlicious]

I think we are quickly reaching the stage where manned aircraft will be obsolete. Period.

I don't really know, but I would think duplicating sitrep in an unmanned drone would be very difficult. Not to mention the Vietnam experience in which we gave up on dogfighting because it was believed that the era was past, only to get our butts kicked when that rosy prediction turned out to be wrong.

At least if it were wrong, it will not result in the deaths of American pilots. That's a boon.

We can always redevelop technology rapidly in the scale of weeks to months. We cannot as easily recapture great pilots.

[SteelCurtain]

Yeah, but if the drone's wrong, it could result in the deaths of innocent people. The ability for human IFF and target recognition in real time is invaluable.

[Angrboda]

Yeah, but if the drone's wrong, it could result in the deaths of innocent people. The ability for human IFF and target recognition in real time is invaluable.

I think the real danger to innocent life is if the drone isn't sufficiently effective. There are some advantages to pulling the pilot from the cockpit, but you're not replacing the pilot, you're just changing where he sits. Off the top of my head, the two main advantages to that are no G's and pilot survivability (cost of airframe figures in there too, but I don't know if that cost is a swing factor).

[Minimalist]

These pilots are not strafing a column at tree top level these days. They are firing a missile from miles away. Whether or not there is a man in the cockpit is not going to make much of a difference in target selection.

[popeyespappy]

I think both the F-22 and the F-35 programs should be cancelled. We could then use the money to fund science education in this country that will educate the next generation of scientists who can actually build a plane that works!

F-22 production ended in 2011. A total of 195 aircraft including 8 test aircraft. Some small number of crashes have since reduced the number of operational aircraft to something less than 187. That really is not a lot of aircraft considering this is the plane expected to maintain US air superiority for another 50 years or so.

The F-35 was a poor idea from inception. Planned to be a jack of all trades it excels at none. We probably would have been better off with completely different aircraft for the various tasks. I doubt if that would have been any less expensive though.

[SteelCurtain]

These pilots are not strafing a column at tree top level these days. They are firing a missile from miles away. Whether or not there is a man in the cockpit is not going to make much of a difference in target selection.

Ah, this is true, but target selection is still the issue. We have small(ish) UAVs for drone strikes now. No one is going to sign off on the billions of dollars of dev money for just bigger drones with more payload. What is proposed is fully autonomous (with the exception of possibly target acquisition) aircraft. But why, when there are plenty of red blooded boys (and girls) lining up willingly and with the advent of new avionics
and continued air superiority relatively safely flying more than capable aircraft now?

And also, there are plenty of aircraft/pilots strafing individual targets with 20mm depleted uranium rounds from close range to this day. There were some videos leaked by Snowden et al. that show this first hand.

[Minimalist]

I suspect the main reason for drones over manned aircraft will be cost.

The advances in drone capability has been rapid in the extreme. Pilots are expensive to recruit, train, and retain. One of the worst features of military establishments is that they are wedded to obsolete technologies.

[popeyespappy]

Autonomous armed drones? Nothing to worry about there.

[Nine]

I wouldn't bother putting a head on robots. It just seems pointless. Just another weak point. Then again its probably for dramatic effect..

* Nine ends this pointless post.