Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
I haven't seen any Strategic publications around the American's moving towards a drone airforce in that quick a time frame.
Until you get a whole other level of AI and a whole other level of completely secure and uninteruptable instand 2 way communication that can't be jammed its not going to happen.
I don't see any nations moving towards a remote controlled airforce. I do see a ton of money being spent by each of the major countries being spent on next generation manned fighter technology with an emphasis on airframe, speed and stealth and advanced avionics and communication links.
I honestly don't see a viable drone alternative for another 3 or 4 generations of jet fighter technology that will be widely integrated.
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I doubt you ever will either I suspect it will be like tanks phasing out cavalry, it will happen despite the best efforts of everybody in the USAF upper echelons to prevent it because, '
god damn it we're an air force, we fly our steel steeds into battle, we don't sit in a bunker in New Mexico playing a god damned computor game like a spotty 14 year old'.
None the less the US currently has twice the number of drone pilots to 'real' pilots, fly a massively larger number of drone ops to 'real' ops in the current war, they are now looking to develop a nuclear powered drone that will be able to fly for months at a time and carry a massivly larger payload.
As long as the US and ourselves are not really facing any kind of equal opposition drones will be the most effective weapons system for most conflicts, cheaper, safer easier to deploy. As soon as the first small cheap radar hidden anti aircraft drone works out it will throw everything into question.