Completely autonomous aircraft have arrived

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05-16-2020, 06:36 AM

teamflyer

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Completely autonomous aircraft have arrived

Incorporates artificial intelligence and Boeing predicts it will replace pilots in the near future.

https://www.popsci.com/story/technol...Ufd16yx7StXkJ4

05-16-2020, 06:46 AM

rickair7777

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Quote:

Originally Posted by teamflyer

Incorporates artificial intelligence and Boeing predicts it will replace pilots in the near future.

https://www.popsci.com/story/technol...Ufd16yx7StXkJ4

The US military has already determined that autonomous aircraft (and other platforms) will function in support of and subordinate to human operators. While some senior leaders with more vision than technical acumen spouted off about automating combat aircraft a few years back, the technology does not support that. AI is not flexible enough to deal with someone who is actively and creatively trying to destroy you.

Also the mil already uses drones for straight-and-level missions... the benefit of persistence outweighs the additional costs. Those costs include an exceptional high aircraft loss rate compared to manned platforms. Flight safety in that context only matters up to the point where it's cheaper to let the drone crash than to try to keep it safe.

05-16-2020, 07:39 AM

teamflyer

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I don’t think there will be any loss rate. Since when was there an actual fighter jet top gun style dog fight. A long time ago... and looking ahead there’s no benefit of air to air combat. These automated fighter jets will do all the talking, and quickly transition the automated technology over to the airliners.

05-16-2020, 08:19 AM

BoilerUP

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...only if they use circular runways.

05-16-2020, 09:18 AM

USMCFLYR

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Quote:

Originally Posted by teamflyer

Yes....that same thinking was alive in the 50s too.

To answer your other question:
https://www.businessinsider.com/here...y-pilot-2017-9

Not that long ago

To look forward - if hostilities erupt with China or North Korea, you’d get you dogfights whether they be BFR or WVR.

05-17-2020, 06:35 AM

rickair7777

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Quote:

Originally Posted by teamflyer

Dogfights/air-to-air combat is rare in low-intensity conflicts, but we seem to get into a not-so-low intensity conflict every 10-20 years or so, and both the US and the obvious competitors are ramping up air combat technology.

And there is no such thing as "artificial intelligence", right now and for the foreseeable future... if a programmer didn't think of it, or ensure that machine-learning evolved to deal with it, it won't happen. Humans are still infinitely more flexible than any so-called "AI"... and that's especially critical in military applications where the enemy is actually TRYING to surprise you.