Proportion of synthetic flying in the future

[Easy Street]

The bit about exposure to 'g', disorientation, weather etc is easily addressed with a 'hack' aircraft, which in the big digital future could easily have displays and softkeys that precisely match those on an expensive, super-secret 'war going' platform that hardly ever flies. The bit about pilot retention is easily addressed with pay: a business case that offsets lavish pay packets for a fortunate few pilots against billions saved in through life support virtually writes itself.

The bit which is much more difficult, and why I think the RAF is just as afraid of pursuing its stated ambitions as industry is to engage with them, is the effect a drastic cut in routine flying hours would have on operational flying. Right now the RAF is able to deploy at little or no additional cost to HM Treasury simply by using its budgeted crew training hours to deliver operational flying. This keeps the RAF relevant in the public and political spheres, at home and on the international stage. If those budgeted crew training hours disappear, then not only does the logistic tail become less efficient due to the difficulty of forecasting support requirements, but HM Treasury will suddenly acquire an effective veto on deployment of RAF assets. Not a position I can imagine senior officers wanting to find themselves in, given the stubborn persistence of a "use it or lose it" culture in every area of MOD bar the deterrent, and the stubborn persistence of HM Treasury in driving down current account spending irrespective of the consequences (witness today's education catch-up funding fiasco). Does anyone think for a minute that we'd be burning Typhoon hours over the Middle East if the decision rested with the bean counters?

The same logic applies to uncrewed autonomous combat aircraft, IMHO: 'ethics' are a convenient smokescreen behind which to avoid a technological step that poses a threat to both customer and supplier. The ethics of whether or not to shoot a hostile track (sometimes declared, ironically, by onboard computer-driven sensor fusion) go out of the window on wave one of WW3...