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UAV's
This is just the next step in the long trend towards completely removing the man from the cockpit, particularly in strike/tactical aircraft.
As a former naval aviator and airline pilot, it doesn't give me a warm fuzzy, but it is reality and there are certainly benefits.
- UAV's don't need to pee, eat, drink, sleep, have an ejection seat, have an oxygen generating or LOX system, etc., etc., etc.
- Smaller, lighter aircraft will burn less fuel, carry more weapons, have a longer on-station and loiter time, and provide greater battlefield flexibility.
- Aircraft designers are allowed much more design freedoms when they don't have to accomodate a human crew.
- Aircraft can be made to perform MUCH, MUCH better with respect to G-loading and maneuverability when you're not constrained by the human-limited, sustained 9 G barrier.
The list goes on. It is the future.
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