UNMANNED, THE WAY OF THE FUTURE

Does anyone remember......... The missile will make the internal gun and the
dog fight obsolete? Fighters will kill thier targets at BVR and never see
them? Modern submarines with missiles make surface ships obsolete? Modern man
portable anti tank missiles make the tank obsolete?

Clearly UAVs have an important and increasing role especially in military roles
but there will always be a need to have a pilot on station somewhere who can
actually see what is going on with his own eyes.

John Dupre'

"These things are here to stay and
they are proliferating. We'll see them on every runway of every
airport doing patrols and day-to-day routine tasks." Some are even
predicting that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be the last manned
fighter.

And what about "the longbow will never defeat armor" no, wait . . .

Sorry dude.

Smokeless powder and cased cartrdges did indeed replace black powder and
minie balls.

Technology has a way of surprising us, after all.

What similar disadvantage(s) do UCAVS poseess (like each of your examples
clearly did at their introduction) to limit their application? Moral
disadvantages? Legal disadvantages?

The technical limitations are falling away very quickly.

Steve Swartz


"JDupre5762" wrote in message
...
Does anyone remember......... The missile will make the internal gun and
the
dog fight obsolete? Fighters will kill thier targets at BVR and never see
them? Modern submarines with missiles make surface ships obsolete?
Modern man
portable anti tank missiles make the tank obsolete?

Clearly UAVs have an important and increasing role especially in military
roles
but there will always be a need to have a pilot on station somewhere who
can
actually see what is going on with his own eyes.

John Dupre'

"These things are here to stay and
they are proliferating. We'll see them on every runway of every
airport doing patrols and day-to-day routine tasks." Some are even
predicting that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be the last manned
fighter.

"JDupre5762" wrote
Does anyone remember......... The missile will make the internal gun and
the
dog fight obsolete? Fighters will kill thier targets at BVR and never see
them? Modern submarines with missiles make surface ships obsolete?
Modern man
portable anti tank missiles make the tank obsolete?

Clearly UAVs have an important and increasing role especially in military
roles
but there will always be a need to have a pilot on station somewhere who
can
actually see what is going on with his own eyes.

"The bomber will always get through"? How about the cavalry?

UAVs are pretty obviously the platform of choice for sensors in the recon
role. They have a big role to play in SEAD but are unlikely to do autonomous
targeting until a lot more experience is available. The only reason they
can't do autonomous air to air is because our pilots will have no desire to
share the sky with self-targeting AAMs.

Great point, Paul, on the main limitation to the use of UCAVs in the A-A
mode is fear of "blue on blue" losses.

Maybe there will be some role for manned vehicles (or remotely piloted
vehicles) in some A-G applications where the advantages of having a robot
pilot aren't so great.

However, the advantages of lighter, leaner, cheaper, more lethal, less risk
will be a powerful reason for getting the wet bags of protein out of the
loop quickly.

Steve Swartz

"Paul F Austin" wrote in message
.. .

"JDupre5762" wrote
Does anyone remember......... The missile will make the internal gun and
the
dog fight obsolete? Fighters will kill thier targets at BVR and never
see
them? Modern submarines with missiles make surface ships obsolete?
Modern man
portable anti tank missiles make the tank obsolete?

Clearly UAVs have an important and increasing role especially in
military
roles
but there will always be a need to have a pilot on station somewhere who
can
actually see what is going on with his own eyes.

"The bomber will always get through"? How about the cavalry?

UAVs are pretty obviously the platform of choice for sensors in the recon
role. They have a big role to play in SEAD but are unlikely to do
autonomous
targeting until a lot more experience is available. The only reason they
can't do autonomous air to air is because our pilots will have no desire
to
share the sky with self-targeting AAMs.