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F-16 Makes First Unmanned Flight

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D

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2013/09/first-qf-16-target-drone-flies-without-pilot/

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/24/23550/

qf-16-no-pilot.jpg


The Pentagon is spending billions on unmanned aerial vehicles or “drones” so it’s understandable if military pilots feel like an endangered species.

And now there’s a new reason for pilots to worry.

Instead of designing UAVs from the ground up, Boeing is taking old mothballed jets and tweaking them so they can fly without a pilot.

Last week at Tyndall AFB in Florida, a pilotless F-16, for the first time ever, roared into the sky with an empty cockpit, according to Boeing.

The QF-16 the pilotless jet didn’t just take off, turn around and land. It climbed to 40,000 feet over the Gulf of Mexico, broke the sound barrier and performed maneuvers like barrel rolls at more than 7Gs.

“It was a little different to see it without anyone in it, but it was a great flight all the way around,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Ryan Inman, commander, 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron.

Ryan’s unit will “fly” the QF-16 as a target to train live pilots who are learning how to engage enemy fighters. Those trainees will be able to shoot down the unmanned target jets, knowing there’s no one inside.

“It’s a replication of current, real world situations and aircraft platforms they can shoot as a target. Now we have a 9G capable, highly sustainable aerial target,” Ryan said.

You might think that shooting down an F-16 is a bit expensive for a target.

In 1998 dollars, an F-16 cost nearly $19 million. But this wasn’t a jet pulled out of service just to be shot down. It’s been mothballed in the Arizona desert for 15 years. All the planes that will be converted into pilotless fighter targets will come from the Air Force’s long-term storage.

Still some who have spent their lives flying the F-16 will miss the old “Fighting Falcon.”

“I love the F-16 and brag about it a lot,” said Jason Clements, a test pilot for Boeing. “Now to get something ready to take off on its own so somebody else can shoot it down makes it a little bittersweet.”
Click to expand...
 
LQX

LQX

Member
They have always said the only thing holding back the capabilities and technology of jets are the pilots.
 
Sub_Level

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Oh yeah I forgot we had other jets and stuff before the f22 and f35. Something about an eagle and a tomcat....
 
B

Bkey

Banned
If anything its great for testing as it seems 1 or 2+ very season test pilots seem to die with each generation of new fighter jets. Those helmets in the F35 are almost like not being in the cockpit anyway.
 
A

Arksy

Member
The most alarming thing about this thread is the realisation that I wasn't the only one who had to suffer through Stealth!
 
R

ryutaro's mama

Member
To everyone that first thought of that shitty movie 'Stealth' please realize that Macross Plus did it first and Stealth was ripping it off like 'The Matrix' ripped off anime.
 
A

akira28

Member
TUSR said:
F22's can pull 9Gs on hard turns with conscious pilots. Imagine scarier.
Click to expand...

Can they do it over and over and over again? I'm guessing the drones can pull even higher sustained Gs.

ryutaro's mama said:
To everyone that first thought of that shitty movie 'Stealth' please realize that Macross Plus did it first and Stealth was ripping it off like 'The Matrix' ripped off anime.
Click to expand...

I think the plane that Clint Eastwood stole was supposed to be a hyperadvanced drone.

I know not of this Stealth movie, please exit the area, sir.
 
O

Octavion Rex

Banned
Makes me think of stargate. when in one episode they run into a planet that is at war. One side uses actual people to fight and the other exactly this.
 
T

TacticalFox88

Banned
Considering that the vast majority of generals are former pilots with massive egos and the technology/science required for the exact precision of an unmanned drone dogfight to match a manned pilot is decades upon decades away, this shit will never catch on, short of Congress unilarity passing a law making them and even then, they'll find loopholes to make sure the change is as slow as humanly possible.
 
F

FunkyPajamas

Member
ThoseDeafMutes said:
The movie literally has a plotpoint where the drone gets struck by lightning which turns it evil.
Click to expand...

Not true. The drone gets struck by lightning, the AI goes "haywire" and takes random combat simulation excercises as orders/targets. It doesn't "turn evil".

For the record, I am not defending this movie.
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
What will happen to war movies / TV shows / video games when wars are fought between unmanned planes, tanks, ships, mechs, etc.?
 
A

Angelus Errare

Banned
Is it weird that Macross Plus was the first thing I thought of and Stealth never crossed my mind? I was listening to Borderline at the time so that might have had something to do with it. >.>
 
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