i knew it was coming soon, my friend swore it wouldnt be tested till 2012!

I guess i win a dollar, ty will.

You think russia or china's gonna test it out

Though the concept is still considered 'revolutionary' and conceptual, sadly, it is the future of aviation.

When you add in the initial costs to train a pilot, THEN add in the further costs for maintaining the proficiency and further upgrading training of said pilot THEN add up the man/pilot hours in fuel, live munitions used, etc........the costs speak for themselves.....it adds up to one PRETTY penny.

The cost for unmanned aircraft maybe steep, to a degree, per se', when you factor in the above equations, then the human cost of life, etc......I think it will eventually become cost effective to have.


regards
seekerof

Yeah,
as much as the fighter pilot may be the last vestige of the chivalric ideal, we have to pursue this tech to its fullest to stay ahead. In the 16th century Japan had more, and better, firearms than any other country in the world. Its nobility, though, came to see guns as a threat to their samurai lifestyle (as a peasant could use a gun... and as it made the skilled swordsman obsolete), so they banned firearms across the country in an attempt to preserve that part of their culture....
...well, commodore Perry sure scared the hell out of them, 3 centuries later, when he steamed into Tokyo harbor and started shooting off his cannons!

...another thought regarding robots: As much as robotic aircraft can give the us a big advantage, they also, in a way, make a lot of our arsenal obsolete, just as the HMS Dreadnought made chunks of the royal navy outdated upon its launch. Just think, Japan, which is a leader in the world of robotics, can, more or less, build a robotic force from scratch and perhaps rival the US...?