kwaigonegin
Colonel
why not? i think it's only a matter of time before UAV's can out maneuver human piloted jets since they do not have the G- force limitations exerted on a human body.
J-20... The New Generation Fighter III
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why not? i think it's only a matter of time before UAV's can out maneuver human piloted jets since they do not have the G- force limitations exerted on a human body.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
Thanks for that.
However, having read it, it seems to be a bug of very limit (if any) threat.
The very basic 'air gap' approach to network security should easily be able to prevent this sort of thing from happening, and should have if the operators at Creech didn't get slack and lazy.
However, a keylogger requires an internet connection in order to transmit the information that it has captured back to the hacker. The bug might have gotten on the secure computers through mobile drives, but without an internet connection, no data can be sent out.
More sophisticated and dangerous bugs face the same problem bridging the 'air gap' in that even if you somehow managed to get them onto the machines, the hacker would not be able to control them remotely. That greatly limits what you can achieve with the bug.
UCAVs' biggest electronic threat will come from jamming.
Another major issue with 'manned' UCAVs is the need for continuous communication between the UCAV and the ground station via satellite.
With modern EW suits, that sort of transmission could easily be detected and be used to target the drones with hardkill weapons, so they are vulnerable no matter how 'stealthy' you make them.
In terms of other major operational limitations, any drone that requires a ground station will suffer lag. The further away the ground station, the worse the lag. Now, a few seconds of lag is not an issue when you are only doing basic flight ops and targeting slow moving ground targets. But in air combat, even a tiny fraction of a second could be decisive.
Sure, UCAVs can be built to be almost as maneuverable as missiles and pull Gs no human pilot could survive, but without control, all that counts for nothing.
The only 3 solutions to that problem that I can see are:
1) AI or VI capable of making independent decisions controlling the UCAVs, making them truly unmanned and fully automates.
2) Move control stations closer to the action, and base them either on the ground near the front lines, or on AWACS or fighters in the air.
3) New generation quantum entanglement based encryption and communication systems that bypasses conventional jamming, and has no lag no matter the distance.
Now, 1) and 3) are decades away from reality at best.
2) Can be made to work in a few years, but has massive drawbacks, like still being susceptible to jamming and increased risk to the man in the loop, as bring him close enough to eliminate lag will also bring him within range of enemy conventional weapons.
I see UCAVs as similar to the missile. They will transform and revolutionize future air combat, and anyone who ignores or neglects them will pay dearly for it. But, just as missiles have not, and likely, will never, replace the good old fashioned aircraft cannon, I do not see UCAVs ever taking over entirely from manned pilots.
Equation
Lieutenant General
True, but wouldn't it be harder for the drone operator to keep track of the target bogey if he doesn't have live real time 360 degree view of the fight vs. the enemy pilot cockpit? I mean the drone operator is looking at several LED screen doesn't compensate for the feel of the fight.
I guess a fighter pilot in the cookpit will be increasingly dependent on LED or other types of screens for what's happening outside his own aircraft, not so much different from that of a UCAV's ground controller. In the future, the UCAV's probably will be controlled by real fighter pilots instead of today's computer-game-player type of controllers.
When fighter goes into BVR, radar will do the job of id the hostile and BVR fire... But when you gets into dogfight, pilot visual takes over dogfight cos radar will be useless...
Computer or human operator of UAV takes over pilot visual? How many camera you are going install? How do you ID fast moving close range hostile?
Its not about the G, its the ID and response plus the lock and fire to kill... Especially is involved 3 vs 4 fighter of a dogfight. It will be more messy and confuse.
Even an UAV operate by a human from far is not going to response as fast as a pilot onboard. He can't make the decision quick enough..
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antiterror13
Brigadier
Why is J-20 painted black ?, what would happen if the colour is bright RED ?
Equation
Lieutenant General
True, but I would rather be the pilot in the cockpit during the dog fight because you have constant eyes on the sky and judgement to make decisions a lot quicker.
Plus if I where a true fighter pilot in that cockpit, there is no way...in God's green earth and blue sky will I let a video game playing UCAV ground controller beat me in a dog fight.
AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
I mentioned it somewhere before in this forum where I read that the Pentagon had shelved $3 billion on further development and upgrades in drones simply because they found they weren't much better than the old U2s. I think that tells a lot on capabilities and limitations in drone technology in general. What people are told seems more about getting funding for such programs than about the reality.
RedMercury
Junior Member
If you're banking on a communication system that uses spooky action at a distance, you might have to wait for the next big bang.
I'm not sure that would matter if the drone were cheap enough. Even if the UAV gets shot down, the pilot would just switch controls to another one and continue the fight. It would be the closest thing to having video game style lives as we can get now. XD .
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