F- 16 Convert Into Drone!!

Hi, i think this is new era of war plane..and i still dont clear what the purpose of this project..hope not go to wrong hand..

Boeing has revealed that it has retrofitted retired fighter jets to turn them into drones.

It said that one of the Lockheed Martin F-16 made a first flight with an empty cockpit last week.

Two US Air Force pilots controlled the plane from the ground as it flew from a Florida base to the Gulf of Mexico.

Boeing suggested that the innovation could ultimately be used to help train pilots, providing an adversary they could practise firing on.

The jet - which had previously sat mothballed at an Arizona site for 15 years - flew at an altitude of 40,000ft (12.2km) and a speed of Mach 1.47 (1,119mph/1,800km/h).

It carried out a series of manoeuvres including a barrel roll and a "split S" - a move in which the aircraft turns upside down before making a half loop so that it flies the right-way-up in the opposite direction. This can be used in combat to evade missile lock-ons.

Boeing said the unmanned F16 was followed by two chase planes to ensure it stayed in sight, and also contained equipment that would have allowed it to self-destruct if necessary.

The firm added that the flight attained 7Gs of acceleration but was capable of carrying out manoeuvres at 9Gs - something that might cause physical problems for a pilot.

"It flew great, everything worked great, [it] made a beautiful landing - probably one of the best landings I've ever seen," said Paul Cejas, the project's chief engineer.

Lt Col Ryan Inman, Commander of the US Air Force's 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron, also had praise for how the test had gone.

"It was a little different to see it without anyone in it, but it was a great flight all the way around," he said.

Boeing said that it had a total of six modified F-16s, which have been renamed QF-16s, and that the US military now planned to use some of them in live fire tests.

However, a spokesman for the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots warned of the temptation to use them in warfare.

"I'm very concerned these could be used to target people on the ground," said Prof Noel Sharkey.

"I'm particularly worried about the high speed at which they can travel because they might not be able to distinguish their targets very clearly.

"There is every reason to believe that these so-called 'targets' could become a test bed for drone warfare, moving us closer and closer to automated killing."

Here The Video of test Flight : www.boeing.com...

Source of the article : www.bbc.co.uk...

imagine if a passanger boeing control by computer too, do you still want to go elsewere by plane?

reply to post by cheesy

the next gen of fighter plane was born , 9 gs are now a fact , not of fiction, next will be the F22 at 12 g turns 14 g dives if it does not fall apart first.

reply to post by cheesy



Hi cheesy,


yeah i been waiting for this to happen.

whats next i wonder, kamikaze drones planes lol ?



Muzz

Sorry cheesy people beat you too it
www.abovetopsecret.com...

And here is Zaphods thread from July
www.abovetopsecret.com...

ThePeaceMaker
Sorry cheesy people beat you too it
www.abovetopsecret.com...

And here is Zaphods thread from July
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Tq so much sir..for the info..
Mods please remove..tq once again..

I 'm actually surprised it's taken this long!

We've had remote controller jumbos since 911 after all

reply to post by cheesy


Sorry cheesy I wasn't trying to have your thread deleted on purpose I do enjoy your threads keep it up !

ThePeaceMaker
reply to post by cheesy

 

Sorry cheesy I wasn't trying to have your thread deleted on purpose I do enjoy your threads keep it up !

no,no i dont mean like that..you get me wrong i am very tq to you sir..

reply to post by Beavers


Pretty sure the US Government are just giving away the evidence and hoping no one realises.

It's technology like this that probably gets developed 10-15 years ago down at A51 or other bases of that nature. Then the "idea" is simply passed down to lower ranks and they get told to do it themselves.

I bet somewhere there is a very high ranking officer laughing saying:


"Pfft, please..... Did that 15 years ago with a paper airplane"

reply to post by Ormuz


It's a target drone for live fire training. That's all. They did it with F-4s for years, but they're running out of them so they moved on to F-16s.

reply to post by brace22


This technology has been around since the 1980s. And UAVs were first used in Vietnam.

Would taking the seat out and any other pilot use items have saved some expensive fuel?

reply to post by pikestaff


No. These are designed to be flown either manned or unmanned. In fact if you watch closely in the video, one of the chase planes is a QF-4 which is what was used before this one as a target drone, that is being flown manned.

Once the conversion is done, they fly at least one manned test flight, before they do an unmanned test flight. Then they can also use it to do DACT before they shoot it down.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Hey zaph ... quick question about the vid cheesy posted, when the f-16 was taking off the cockpit view showed smoke of some kind in the cockpit .. any ideas what this is ?

reply to post by ThePeaceMaker



Condensation from the air conditioning. It runs at high to cool the electronics.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Ah I see thanks for that does it happen when a pilot is flying ? Or just because there is more electronics being used because of the unmanned flight

reply to post by ThePeaceMaker


Depending on where they're flying out of. The pilots don't always have it on high like that. Sometimes they do, but not always. They QF has to have it on high all the time for the electronics.