[Seahawk]

There is nothing new here: We have been flying old jets NOLO (No Live Operator) for 40 plus years...old F-4's out of Point Mugu and other more interesting places, mostly to fly mission profiles against ships and occasionally against manned aircraft.

They were initially radio control from the ground by a pilot sitting in an F-4 cockpit in a room. That has changed! The sensors and sensing equipment is light, reliable and very powerful BEFORE whatever version of AI strikes your fancy.

The weak link in any tactical aircraft is the human and the support systems required to keep that human alive, conscious and aware: breathable air, seat, canopy (which are very complex), avionics, etc. and the fact that a human is G Limited to a much lessor degree than the aircraft the human is flying.

Those systems and the human drive weight and performance of the aircraft: Think in terms of an air to air missile that is smart and can re-engaged the manned aircraft in a similar manner of two manned aircraft in a fight.

We did a lot of work on this with my UAS's when I was the Program Manager for Navy and Marine Corps UAS.

This is not a knock on pilots at all, it is just reality...