Unmanned drones likely to take over Nimrod spy duties
 

Unmanned drones likely to take over Nimrod spy duties

Unmanned drones likely to take over Nimrod spy duties | Politics | guardian.co.uk

Where will all the pies's go now....

I wonder how many sonobuoys you can get on a UAV?

So we have no money yet we think being the lead customer for something that does not exist anywhere else on the planet (a very large RPAS capable of carrying multiple buoys, torpedos and missiles) together with a high bandwidth satellite network is a good idea???

Have we gone utterly mad?

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say... Not a chance, at least not within the next 20 years...

I can't see any way we can cater for, or afford, the bandwidth. All other arguments aside, this will be one of the most difficult things to overcome.

Radar video, ESM/ELINT data, Link 11+16, Acoustic data, EOS video, MAD, 2x HF, 5+x V/UHF, SAR Comms, Satcom etc...

I look forward to being proved wrong!

No doubt, every word of that statement is true but…No one expects a high risk high end capability like the Nimrod MRA Mark 4 is something we can now afford. What we need is an affordable effective Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft.

Equally IT MAY WELL BE that he has been convinced by UAV manufacturers that every other nation in the world with manned MPA’s is wrong and that the UK alone are going to do it the unmanned way.

Surely that article was concerned with "spy" duties, and not MPA?

Anyway, aren't we supposed to be getting RJ for this?

That was just the Guardian for you - they probably can't spell Maritime Reconnaissance so they just use more lazy journalist speak and write 'Spy'

a great man once said:

'The less you know about the subject the easier it is to offer a solution'

This would seem a fine example...:ugh:

Quote:

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a great man once said:

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Quote:

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'The less you know about the subject the easier it is to offer a solution'

This would seem a fine example...:ugh:

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I'm no apologist for the Guardian, but to be fair to the journo he's not offering a solution, but reporting what the defence secretary had to say on the subject.


Unless of course you are referring to the defence secretary, in which case I do apologise.

The 2nd one :)

Unmanned Drones....as opposed to 'Manned' Drones.....Wouldn't get me inside a drone anytime!

Indeed. One always finds a good response to the "don't need pilots - drones will do everything" gang - particularly the "Big Drone" subsection - is:

"Would you go on holiday on an EasyJet Drone?"

...... never had an honest "Yes" yet :ok:

Think that probably has more to do with the 'Easy Jet' aspect of your question, rather than the 'drone' bit.

The answer to this problem is being built by Boeing at the moment for the US navy, I would think that it would be quite affordable as long as you don't let BAe get involved.

.. but I'm sure RyanAir would try it first!

But when you look at what M O'L pays his pilots, he wouldn't save much!

Why does Duncan Sandys keep springing to mind and the year 1957

It was only pie at ISK. Down south it was pasties. If it was to be at the major ISTAR base then it would be pork sausage rolls.

But for drone crews get flight rations?

Thinking back to pies, did any other aircraft types ever get flight rations in the Sim?

I guess there are 2 ways of looking at this.

The first and more positive is that at least he is talking about MPA, even though unmanned vehicles are entirely inappropriate for this task, assuming we are looking at a traditional MPA role. He just needs educating and steering away from whatever muppet at BAE is trying to sell him some wonder UAV.

The second way of interpreting it is, we are going to buy an unmanned MPA, when one is developed. As has been pointed out, this would be many many years away, given this governments likely short tenure, it becomes pretty much irrelevant to the current Minister of Defence.

you can fly a helicopter without a crew

Black Hawk Helicopter Flies Autonomously

Interesting quote from the Guardian though.

"We are managing at the moment using a combination of other assets, occasionally using assets owned by allies to perform specific Nato tasks. It is clear in the medium term we will have to address that gap."