Old fighter jets could be used as live target practice - Polidicks

[QUOTE]Boeing has revealed that it has retrofitted retired fighter jets to turn them into drones. It said that one of the Lockheed Martin F-16 made a first flight with an empty cockpit last week. Two US Air Force pilots controlled the plane from the ground as it flew from a Florida base to the Gulf of Mexico. Boeing suggested that the innovation could ultimately be used to help train pilots, providing an adversary they could practise firing on. The jet - which had previously sat mothballed at an Arizona site for 15 years - flew at an altitude of 40,000ft (12.2km) and a speed of Mach 1.47 (1,119mph/1,800km/h).[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24231077[/url] [IMG]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/70091000/png/_70091375_tes2.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/70091000/jpg/_70091377_ght2.jpg[/IMG]

Rest in pieces old sky warriors

The QF-4 (Modified F-4 Phantoms) has been an aerial target drone for years.

Just along with the news that the A10 is being retired, then this post. [QUOTE=abananapeel;42289099]This cant be. My dad works at Raytheon, a defense contractor, and he is working on a thing that goes on top of an A-10 that makes it almost autonomous or something. I doubt its on the chopping block if they're paying my dad to help make something for it.[/QUOTE] :tinfoil: [editline]24th September 2013[/editline] Please no.

This makes me sad yet also happy. They live on, yet only for a while as drones or target practice.

This is standard practice, actually. My dad used to repair the hydraulics systems on F4 Phantom drones used for this purpose in the late 80s and early 90s.

Downlink that thing to a drone operator station and give your pilot a proper dogfight. I know military types like to talk about all kills being missile kills beyond visual range, but if you don't seal the deal on that first shot, you close the distance mighty fast and end in a turning fight just like it's always been. There's a reason the F-22 still carries a gun. No experience substitute for actually shooting something out of the sky.

[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;42298796]Downlink that thing to a drone operator station and give your pilot a proper dogfight. I know military types like to talk about all kills being missile kills beyond visual range, but if you don't seal the deal on that first shot, you close the distance mighty fast and end in a turning fight just like it's always been. There's a reason the F-22 still carries a gun. No experience substitute for actually shooting something out of the sky.[/QUOTE] They already simulate dogfights, it's what Red Flag is all about. Better to put drones to use for things you can't simulate, like missile tests. Target drones based on the F-4 have been used to test missiles for decades.

[del]This isn't news.[/del] I take that back, but the title is misleading.

[QUOTE=rhx123;42296750]Just along with the news that the A10 is being retired, then this post. :tinfoil: [editline]24th September 2013[/editline] Please no.[/QUOTE] Oh jesus, that's depressing as hell.

Better than it sitting in the desert for another 15 years and becoming not airworthy any more.

Pack em full of explosives and dive bomb them into hostile territory at random. Operation: John McCain

[QUOTE=stabbytheghost;42299931]Pack em full of explosives and dive bomb them into hostile territory at random. Operation: John McCain[/QUOTE] They tried that with bombers during the second world war. It had mixed results as I recall.

Hope they keep a few for historical value.

As I said in the other thread, cue an almost entirely unmanned airforce. Anyone thinking otherwise is hilariously undereducated on the subject. I guess the next war being digital was entirely true. [QUOTE=Psychokitten;42299959]They tried that with bombers during the second world war. It had mixed results as I recall.[/QUOTE] We already do that, they're called cruise missiles.

[QUOTE=Worldwaker;42300134]As I said in the other thread, cue an almost entirely unmanned airforce. Anyone thinking otherwise is hilariously undereducated on the subject. I guess the next war being digital was entirely true. .[/QUOTE] You'll never replace the physical pilot in the cockpit. The only reason we haven't been struck with the whole "Well fuck our drone control signals are jammed" issue yet is because we're fighting an enemy too techonologically backwards to muster such equipment. A war against a power technologically on par with us would jam that shit faster than the pilots can go "Fuck!", necessitating actual pilots in warplanes.

[QUOTE=TestECull;42300620]You'll never replace the physical pilot in the cockpit. The only reason we haven't been struck with the whole "Well fuck our drone control signals are jammed" issue yet is because we're fighting an enemy too techonologically backwards to muster such equipment. A war against a power technologically on par with us would jam that shit faster than the pilots can go "Fuck!", necessitating actual pilots in warplanes.[/QUOTE] That's why you make an autonomous drone who will be able to, in case of need, decide everything on it's own :o) [I][B] everything[/B][/I]

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;42301798]That's why you make an autonomous drone who will be able to, in case of need, decide everything on it's own :o) [I][B] everything[/B][/I][/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.duffelblog.com/2012/07/air-force-mq-9-reaper-diagnosed-with-ptsd-refuses-to-fly/"]We'll just end up with more cases like this.[/URL]

Oh man where do I sign up, it'll just be like a giant RC plane that at one stage was loaded with missiles!

[QUOTE=markg06;42302501]Oh man where do I sign up, it'll just be like a giant RC plane that at one stage was loaded with missiles![/QUOTE] Your local Airforce recruitment branch! [url]https://contact.airforce.com/[/url]