Quote:
Originally Posted by Hack&Lube
That's my point. Dog-fighting and air to air superiority is not really a vital capability in todays' world.
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That's why we have F-18's now and they're considering F-35's, because they're multi-role aircraft not specifically air-superiority aircraft, but one that can perform those roles plus air-to-ground roles as well.
You could have a drone that could outperform a manned aircraft yes, but they aren't out there to purchase yet.
There's also tradeoffs with remote piloting, on one hand the pilot is remote but to have the response necessary you still need to be line of site to the drone; a satellite link will introduce enough lag to make something like dogfighting difficult. So the pilot is still at risk as the enemy triangulates the control signal and blows up the control centre.
Currently pilots say flying a drone is like piloting while looking through a straw too.. anyone who's driven a car and played a driving game or flown a real airplane and played a flight sim knows that it just isn't the same, though technology could go a long way to mitigating that (virtual reality headsets that move when you look around, wide angle cameras, etc).
Maybe Canada should build it's own drone, a complete remotely piloted replacement for multi-role fighters?