rattman
Whats the limit on a pilot, 8-12 hours mission then at least 12 hours rest, probably more. A drone missions would be limited by the hardware capababilites, we are already seeing it now, RQ-4 airborne for days. Get ghostbat/skyborg, if it doesn't use it weapons and doesn't need maintainence you can use an MQ-25 to keep it airborne for days if needed
True, but the RQ-4 and MQ-9B are built to be Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) and are slow and not very manoeuvrable. If you build a supersonic and high-G capable loyal wingman it will likely have the same 1-3 hours of endurance. If you need it to stay capable of making a supersonic dash for High Value Asset Defence (HVAD) then it will need to keep going to a tanker to top off.
Bob Viking
Also, people are bloody expensive and take time to train and are a serious limitation due to their physical constraints and requirements.
Again, true, but AI systems also take time to be programmed, tested and assured. Further, performance past human physical constraints and requirements still comes at a price - more bandwidth, control of the EM and cyber spectrums, expensive high-fidelity sensors and computers replacing potentially cheaper humans (remember Chernobyl’s “human robots”?) and the will to have autonomous killing machines on the battle field taking human lives (a constant moral maze over the years).
ORAC
Hunter said the Air Force wants to have a drone wingman ready to use with the Next Generation Air Dominance program by the time it reaches initial operating capability, which it hopes to have reached by the end of this decade.….
I’m sure a graduate of Social Studies from Harvard and post-graduate of Economics from Johns Hopkins is at the forefront of front line requirements and capabilities
. To me this is the “emperor’s new clothes” all over again with industry telling Defence what it needs (this time through the SAF of acquisition, tech and logs) - and of course it will because the companies get more sales from something that Defence gets convinced it needs. I have absolute belief that drones/RPAS/UAV/UCAV have their place but there is a cost/benefit line that needs to be considered against the real-world likelihood of developing something you are willing to use, or be able to use, against that of someone developing something to counter something that may become very inflexible to field.