Loyal Wingman

[Bruce Caulley]

https://www.theepochtimes.com/history-has-been-made-first-aussie-made-military-aircraft-in-50-years-takes-off_3716941.html">https://www.theepochtimes.com/history-h ... 16941.html">https://www.theepochtimes.com/history-has-been-made-first-aussie-made-military-aircraft-in-50-years-takes-off_3716941.html

Hopefully this testing phase with a few aircraft leads to a huge fleet of them rolling out.  Oz populations is too small to maintain a large airforce, so this could be a gamechanger.  At least until others catch up.

Cheers

Bruce

[Incogneeto]

[quote="Bruce Caulley" post_id=7893 time=1614817239 user_id=99]
https://www.theepochtimes.com/history-has-been-made-first-aussie-made-military-aircraft-in-50-years-takes-off_3716941.html">https://www.theepochtimes.com/history-h ... 16941.html">https://www.theepochtimes.com/history-has-been-made-first-aussie-made-military-aircraft-in-50-years-takes-off_3716941.html

Hopefully this testing phase with a few aircraft leads to a huge fleet of them rolling out.  Oz populations is too small to maintain a large airforce, so this could be a gamechanger.  At least until others catch up.

Cheers

Bruce
[/quote]

Looks Badass.. Couldn't see, what can it Deliver??

Imagine if you saw six of those heading in your Direction?

I Imagine you would Never even see them , With a Lil Luck maybe their Tail......Not for Long tho.

[gcode]

One of the main restrictions to modern fighter aircraft is the bag of meat needed to pilot it.
Much of the cost and size of a modern fighter are defined by systems needed to keep the pilot alive
It's performance is limited by the forces the pilot can survive and function under.
Remove the pilot's performance limits go way up.. and costs go way down.

Take the F35 for example
The Air Force considers 250 hours flight time a year the minimum requirement to keep a pilot combat ready
Given the cost per flight hour x the 8 to 10 year career of a modern fighter pilot and you 're up to $50 million
just in flight cost for one pilot. This does not count any actual missions or combat, it's just minimum certification costs.

Another factor is the G limit a human body can tolerate
A modern fighter plane can easily pull enough G's to kill the pilot.
Replace the pilot with AI and the G limit is gone and the 250 hours a year of qualification flights is gone.
The planes are also much cheaper to build because all the life support equipment is no longer necessary.

It is only a matter of time till fighter pilots are a thing of the past
Loyal Wingman is just a first baby step in that direction

[mowens]

The new B21 stealth bomber was originally supposed to have an unmanned option. Not sure if they kept it in.

[Bruce Caulley]

Without a pilot the mission survivability becomes less important too, reducing costs even more.  Imagine if something like this could be had for only $10mil each!  This could almost be a high-tech asymmetric scenario.  Normally a poor country can use low tech gear, but clever tactics to defeat a bigger power.  This gives small, but wealthy countries like OZ the ability to exponentially expand capability with high-tech, but cheap hardware to potentially defeat a bigger power.  Tech and quantity don't become such rivals when it comes to paying the bills then, like replacing F-18s with fewer F-35s for example.
I don't imagine Australia can maintain a technological edge indefinitely, but it is an area where the playing field is more level for small countries.  As well as AI, they could make these things fly like a video game and bingo, a few million gamer jocks suddenly become short term candidates for remote pilots.  

Cheers
Bruce

[Bruce Caulley]

Looks Badass.. Couldn't see, what can it Deliver??

I think the plan is for them to carry light anti-radar and air-to-air munitions and fly centred on a piloted aircraft, hence the Loyal Wingman title.  Swarm ahead and around as necessary.

[CADCAM396]

scary stuff.
I have a saying. I dont fear many except one that has nothing to lose. drones have been a game changer for sure. yes many $ can be lost but human life will become a one way street.

[Matthew Hajicek]

A drone doesn't get PTSD after firebombing a village full of women and children.  It won't hesitate or question the order either.