Pilotless F-16 jets flying

[amiah137]

Empty F-16 jets are being tested by Boeing and US Air Force.

What are your thoughts about this? Would you be worried if a pilotless jet was flying over your house? Is this the future for us, where we will eventually have no pilots flying planes from within cabins?

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24231077

[felixbearpig]

really the only thing pilots do is land,takeoff and quick judgment calls.

[Chatzev]

Automated warfare, kinda scary now that I think about it. 

[Guest]

really the only thing pilots do is land,takeoff and quick judgment calls.

Carrier pilots don't even take off.. 

[coen113]

Carrier pilots don't even take off.. 

landing on a carrier is a bit nerve wrecking though

[ERSCreeper]

Post already https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/59487-empty-f-16-jet-tested-by-boeing-and-us-air-force/#entry807277

[origx36]

lol, every day i see and hear the noise of jets flying over my house

there is an air force military base 5km from my house

[rhyseyness]

This is the future. The most expensive thing in a jet is effectively the pilot, so if they can get rid of it, they will

[Yun4xGaming]

 where we will eventually have no pilots flying planes from within cabins

 

no Pilot means that a plane can't fly and WILL not fly. you will never see Humanless planes. and the plane Can't "Fly itself" the pilot has to tell the Autopilot what to do on commercial planes, Yes the Autopilot can land the plane but the Pilot has to give in the Frequency, Course and so on for it to work. and if the AP fails what then? the plane will Crash thats one of the reason why there are pilots. Computers Help the Pilot and don't fly the plane by itself

 

[allthatremains94]

They're turning it into a target drone, not a fully functional war machine.They've been turning their old, useless things into target drones since the late 50's early 60's. This really isn't a big deal, and it wouldn't be if people didn't have some irrational fear of drones, even though they're just like giant RC toys.

[n0ah1897]

My dad used to be an F-16 pilot for the Air National Guard. He said they take the old, no longer used F-16s and turn them into drones for target practice and training other pilots.

[Ineko]

They're turning it into a target drone, not a fully functional war machine.They've been turning their old, useless things into target drones since the late 50's early 60's. This really isn't a big deal, and it wouldn't be if people didn't have some irrational fear of drones, even though they're just like giant RC toys.

 

Giant RC toys with weapons attached to them that can kill anybody with the press of a button.

[allthatremains94]

Giant RC toys with weapons attached to them that can kill anybody with the press of a button.

Most drones aren't armed when they're up in the air, they're meant purely for surveillance, you just hear about the ones that are armed because of the boom that they make makes the media go crazy. Also, the amount hoops you have to go through to even get the go to for a strike on anyone is pretty large. It's easier for me to be told by an actual pilot and my CO to drop rounds on a guy digging an IED than it is for the button to be pressed to target and take out hostiles firing upon our own soldiers. And like I said, this F-16 is merely a target drone, which has been done for far longer than the internet as we know it has been around. 

[Tataffe]

Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) are quite common, for surveillance and reconnaissance like the Global Hawk, as well as combat capable drones like the Predator. This unmanned F-16 is probably turned into target drones.

[legopc]

i think its an improvement now you dont have to put men in those jets so if they get taken down no one dies  

[_ASSASSIN_]

i think its an improvement now you dont have to put men in those jets so if they get taken down no one dies

YAY, unmanned warfare so eventually terminator can happen

[legopc]

YAY, unmanned warfare so eventually terminator can happen

that would be EPIC  

[Sneaky]

Empty F-16 jets are being tested by Boeing and US Air Force.

What are your thoughts about this? Would you be worried if a pilotless jet was flying over your house? Is this the future for us, where we will eventually have no pilots flying planes from within cabins?

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24231077

 

I think this is pretty cool.

[aEi1aesainee2]

You could have a pilot remotely controlling the plane using an ... Oculus Rift.

 

Lololol, I'm already gone if you're searching for me.

[techswede]

Pilot.exe has stopped working...

Or even worse. if the person controlling it is just flying along and the display drivers fail...

[allthatremains94]

i think its an improvement now you dont have to put men in those jets so if they get taken down no one dies

Es a target drone senor, it take the bullet, not give.

[rashdanml]

Coming from my Aerospace Engineering background ...

 

It'll never be practical. No mathematical/computer model of a pilot is perfect, and will never replace the instincts and intuition of a real pilot. It sounds great in theory. The only time a computer simulated pilot is used is in conjunction with a flight simulator or a mathematical model of a flight simulator to get an idea of the handling of an aircraft. Actual flight testing is still only done with real pilots. 

 

For Pilotless flight to be possible, the program would need to be able to learn like a human and adapt. That has SkyNet written all over it. Humans have the ability to sift through multiple inputs and immediately come up with multiple actions accordingly, and choose the best action given the situation. The same approach using a computer program/programmable controller (also called a Multi Input Multi Output controller) is very complex. By contrast, Single input Single output (or SISO) is a lot simpler, which is usually what mathematical models of pilots restrict themselves to (easier computation).