Prototype combat UAV piloted from 1500km away

Well, in the same week that we learned that the F-22 may get cut... we hear that Boeing's X-45 UCAV has completed a succesfull test that involved an operator flying it from nearly 1000 miles away. This same design has previously flown, under complete computer control, in formation with other ucavs. It has also completed bombing runs that were entirely under computer control:

www.spacedaily.com...

"A Boeing X-45A unmanned aircraft was controlled by a pilot-operator in Seattle, Wash., after launching from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on Dec. 9.
""This shows our military can deploy unmanned combat aircraft from one location and control them from another," said Darryl Davis, Boeing Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) X-45 vice president and program manager."



We're clearly heading to a future where major elements of the US military are robots operated from CONUS locations.

Yeah that was a big step, we all know they can fly them to any location, but to do a mid-flight switch of the ground operator all on a very very secure network, is a big step.

I'm glad that their so secure, it would really suck to fly one of these to bomb Iran, only to have Iran's best computer hackers to take control of it and have it bomb us instead.

The US military should consider mini tank's controled by radio.

This way they won't have to risk US soilder lives. Also radio control suicde tank's. and radio control suicde heilcopers.

Instead of firing to a target A to B.

You could have dynamic target. Have the helicoper fly around the city. See a heap of enemy's..fly it straight into them and trigger massive explosion. Same thing with the tank.

Have like 1000 of these and you could kill mabe 5000 enemy with people on joysticks

Technology like this could destroy the US army and many european armies.

Originally posted by Thinker
The US military should consider mini tank's controled by radio.

This way they won't have to risk US soilder lives. Also radio control suicde tank's. and radio control suicde heilcopers.

Instead of firing to a target A to B.

You could have dynamic target. Have the helicoper fly around the city. See a heap of enemy's..fly it straight into them and trigger massive explosion. Same thing with the tank.

Have like 1000 of these and you could kill mabe 5000 enemy with people on joysticks

Technology like this could destroy the US army and many european armies.

What you described is what a bomb does.

and no, unless they were good stealth then the US forces would shoot them while still in the sky. and as for tanks, they do that with everyday vehicles, why get a big slow atention attracting tank with armore on it?

The US has some smaller UGV that have guns, but big ones are still aways away, currently to much could go wrong and its safer to have them controlled by people.