UAV infrastructure will mean dedicated comms systems. Either RF (or more probably) microwave. These would have to be speacially designed and built. If the decision was to use Satellite comms (best for security) then real time communication would require a constellation of dedicated birds in LEO or MEO orbits. Still no answer to the weather problem. Telemetry and Telecommand will require a large bandwidth due to the required data rate, in fact the trend is to increase the bandwith with CDMA and then recover the data with Signal Processing.
Do you know how much data is sent back from the sensors on the engine of a Formula 1 car? 1Mbit/s.
The Predator has been armed with Hellfire missiles. In other words using short range weapons for short range missions against fixed targets at known locations in relatively benign (to electromagnetic radiation, ie RF/Microwave and (particularly) laser) weather conditions. Now try a CAS mission against suspected enemy vehicles on a rainy day in the Balkans, 200+ miles away from the base......
I am sure that most of the pilots who use PPRUNE could tell you stories of how they saved their aircraft by intervening in things...
I have no experience of flying, not even in a sim. So there you are right.
Politicians will become weary of UCAVs when they realise how expensive and unpredictable they are. The political mood in the US has changed since 11 September, the politicians are starting to realise that sometimes you have to accept casualties. And what about the danger of hitting your own troops/aircraft/ships etc?
Cruise missiles are not UAVs. Not really. They just fly into known targets with fixed locations. I would not want to see one being used for CAS.
As for computers, they will never be foolproof. They might get faster, but software is still liable to be full of bugs.
Last edited by WE Branch Fanatic; 12th May 2002 at 17:22.