F-22 or Predator?

Question

We'll me being prior enlisted and Cadet in ROTC going for pilot, I'm interested in your opinion. What do you see for our future? All though it is nice to have an un-manned aircraft shooting missles and spraying bullets at hot zones, I still think its something that would never obsolete a fighter pilot. This is why I think so, even though the predator has been very good at its job so far, it still is being controled by a signal. Take out the tower sending signals. Goodbye predator. Now I'm not 100% on its A.I. It could be smart enough to target the enemy on its own and fight it off. Still things happen, ever see the move "stealth" heh. Anyway this is all in good fun, what is your opinions for our future Air power?

Answer 1

both would work

Answer 2

I think a mix of F-22 and Predator is a good way to go, however I have another rather unusual view.

I would like to see a larger number of low-tech, low-cost aircraft, similar to the F-5E/F series, but a lot faster and more maneuverable. Ideally these should be fighter or fighter-ground attack aircraft, capable of in-flight refueling to allow world-wide deployment, and relatively simple to maintain.

These would primarily be built for use by Reserve and Guard units, and I would have a lot more of these than we have now. They could also be used in the aggressor role, as the F-5E/F were, and for export to allied nations.

The F-22 is a great aircraft, but it's very expensive and that will limit the number that will reach operational status. Your point on fighter pilots is very well taken, but one of the best fighters of World War II was the Spitfire, which was a simple aircraft and easy to fly. It was also relatively inexpensive. The Japanese Zero similarly was simple and relatively inexpensive.

Any modern fighter can be equipped with data link and can make up for a lack of on-board sophisticated radar by effective ground control. This explains much of the success of the MIG-21 series of Soviet fighters, which were far less sophisticated than the Phantoms that flew against them over Vietnam. The other part of the equation is to field the best pilots available, and that's something the US services have repeatedly proven they can do.

Answer 3

Predator (and future UAV/CAVs) are satellite controlled. The current generation AI takes over on signal loss & "attempts" to RTB & land the aircraft. However, signal loss most often occurs due to overspeed & weather conditions causing something like a spin, for which the AI is real bad at recovering from & they tend to drill in. Such as we saw over in New Mexico I think it was last year down by the border & almost tagged a house.

I understand the CAVs under development are supposed to be able to do a lot more on AI in terms of manuver & targeting, but the trigger pull is still on the ground with a human behind it. I do see lots of problems there controlling the complexity matrix & information overload, especially with sat time delay. Some of that'll get fixed eventually, some isn't going to be able to overcome the realities of physics.

Far as the F22... it's like the space program. It's seriously cool & I think we ought to have them cause it's something I'd really like to do, but it's not real practical. I appreciate teh F22 is the absolute best air superiority fighter in the world & it'll be a long time before it's topped. However, I question the economics. Air superiority isn't the primary mission & the low number of airframes restricts their usefulness regardless of how good they are. It's a waste of time for them to carry a couple1000lbs bombs.

What we really need is a follow on for the A10, and I don't mean the F35 JSF. We need a low & slow high maneuverable rugged airframe with extremely long loiter time that can deliver tons of the new small (100lbs) JDAMs, plus lots of hellfire instead of mavrick, and a gun would be nice too. Hellicopters have their limitations, the A10 overcomes many of those. Other classes of attack aircraft are not as useful tactically as the AF would like to make the budget process believe. If something like that doesn't come along by the time the A10 is cycling out of service, it'll be a real sad day for ground troops everywhere.

The AF is doing good on the strategic air power side though.

Answer 4

First of all, you need to keep in mind that what Hollywood does in their movies is pure FICTION.

Are you naive enough to think that the control centers for these aircraft will be anyplace near the action. The pilots will be hundred's, if not thousand's of miles away. And don't you think there is some redundancy in this system. They would just transfer control to another location.

The Predator is old school. The MQ-9 Reaper is the latest.

And you better believe that they have super sonic fighter versions of these aircraft that will be operational soon.

They will be able to pull many more G's than an manned aircraft. They will be smaller and lighter than a manned fighter. Their pilots can be much more fearless as they won't die or risk capture if they are shot down, the pilot only needs to take control of another fighter that will be waiting in a holding pattern near buy.

Answer 5

Interesting question. For the foreseeable future I definitely believe that all aircraft will have a pilot, whether that pilot is in the cockpit or not is a different question.

I am sure that we will continue to come up with better ways to remote pilot the planes, so that opposing forces would have a harder time to "jam" our transmission. And eventually I think most of our planes (and other war machines for that matter) will be piloted remotely, but this will probably be quite a long time from now.

As for whether a plane can ever be truly pilot-less and still have all the benefits of a pilot, such as intuition and adapting to new circumstances is a different question. I guess if you believe that true artificial intelligence (AI that can truly mimic human thinking) is possible than so is a plane piloted by AI. As for AI who knows with that... we could be one minor breakthrough away or we could be thinking of the problem in the completely wrong way and trying to solve it with the wrong equipment. If the latter is the case, if true AI is possible who knows if it will ever be achieved.

Answer 6

a sturdy subject count. it variety of feels as though the are having a hard time getting the RAM to stay on the F-22 - it somewhat is abraded via flying nevertheless rain. in the event that they are able to't get it to stick to a F-22, then what's greater valuable it somewhat is being positioned on the F-35? nonetheless, i think of you choose the two airplane. The F-22 can supercruise and is a twin engine butt kicker. The F-35 VTOL version needs to interchange the Harrier, yet i'm no longer as severe on the army version by using fact it somewhat is a single engine.The army desires stealth and the Hornet has a million/2 the variety. The Air rigidity version seems much less important with the F-22 in play. Did you ever be taught the F-22 attack mode the place they're going to place one F-22 in the back of the universal formation and paint all the objectives with radar and then deliver a datalink concentrated on flow directly to the F-22s forward that are in finished stealth mode? Cool stuff.

Answer 7

Personally it is a sad day when war and killing becomes a video game for the "combatants. Once they can do this with aircraft why not small armored vehicles and make foot soldiers obsolete? That would bring to mind a dark and bloody future because war would become a game and people would forget it is not a good thing but the last resort of politics. If any one country developed that capacity it would sooner or later go for world domination and if multiple countries did it would be endless and constant war.

Answer 8

I believe the Predator and other un-manned aircraft will be utilized for known target missions but I will always believe that human skill, intuition and ingenuity will make pilots always necessary to manage the instant demand of tactical situations.

Answer 9

the day well come when some one well create a unmanned fighter that well give pilots a run for there money.. weather that's right or wrong i cant say but it well happen..

Answer 10

there's a new fighter plane coming out that will put even a Raptor in it's place. i can only tell you that it's fast, can travel in a low orbit of the earths atmosphere and will not only be silent, but undetectable by modern radar systems. i would look for it around 2012.

Answer 11

i would be going with the irving binoschmitz fokker III.

but it's such a secret that it self destructs after each single use.

built by haliburton of course - they are the gucci of war jets...