I wonder one day in the distant future will whole carrier battle groups be automated to the point where only the largest ships in the formations are manned and even then just act to command the operations not actually operate? Drone destroyers, drone frigates, drone subs, drone fighters on the deck maintained by robots that fuel, arm, repair and maintain. Perhaps even terminator style infantry deployed from drone amphibious assault ships and transports using drone air assault craft to land on shore and secure a beachhead for operations ranging from humanitarian assistance to combat.
its kinda scary to think of. A wholly robotic armed forces, where in troops are manufactured not trained and know no fear of blood shed or horror of war. No conscience to prevent certain actions, no regrets to keep body counts to a minimum. If a assault seems to have been stymied just load up more robots.
I just realized one thing (which has been posted many time before, I guess) when looking at:
(it comes from the NAVAIR Facebook profile I check
) and the composition of that photography points to: THERE WILL BE "FLYING" ACES OF FUTURE AIR CONFLICTS. TerraN_EmpirE?
Well, that aircraft is a RQ-4A Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator. The program has been so successful, that the Navy has used the actual demonstrators for several years now in real world missions. The concept has been so perfected that the US Navy is now going to order several dozen of them and have them up continuously so a wide area surveillance network can be established for other US Navy assets, like the P-8A Poseidons, etc.
However, those types of aircraft will never be "Aces."
It is doubtful that in the forseeable future, unmanned "fighters" will be developed that can hope to compete with manned fighters. While some of the patrol aircraft may become aces by shooting down unarmed, or non air-to-air combat aircraft, they will certainly not become "Aces" based on besting manned aircraft that are specifically sent up to hunt and kill them.
I believe that is what TerraN_Empire's example is showing us.
I did say Distant future, I was thinking about well beyond my lifespan. Last days of the last ford class carrier at least.
in order to get to that day when nations go into Robot wars, one of the first issues is electronic warfare and cyber warfare.
electronic warfare as in EMP is not as big a issue as some like to make it out to be. The US and many other countries have hardened so called "Rad Chips" these are Chips that are shielded from the impact of both artificial and natural electromagnetic interference.
they are commonly used in space and military services and are kept under special restrictions in terms of export although accessible for civilian domestic markets. In Fact not to long ago there was a report of a individual caught in a sting operation who was buying such shops from a American manufacturer, removing them from there protective containers and then smuggling them abroad. The chips having been removed from there containers are damaged by the way. Its believed he was trying to send his handlers the chips so that they could analyze there construction for reverse engineering.
electronic jamming however and Cyber warfare are issues. As Drones are reliant on there sensors impute and as the RQ170 proved that can be spoofed. A modern manned fighter could also be hacked but the pilot being onboard allows a additional check, its likely that one option if not present now will be in the future will be the ability to disable data links on manned aircraft a sort of autistic mode that would allow the fighter pilot to override any alien interface into the crafts main computer.
this is not a option in drones however as Drones are drones they are totally dependent on there computer systems as their only brain. This limitation will in my opinion keep pilots in the cockpit for sometime to come particularly if technologically sophisticated nations engage in conflicts.
as time goes by perhaps more secure data distribution methods will be developed that will one day allow layers of insulation from external influence in unmanned systems. And if so the perhaps my brainstorm of a unmanned armed forces where Enders game is played out in command carriers will become a reality but I am betting every member of this forum will have met there maker by then.
till then the only Aces I see are manned unless, they create a Hellfire Ace ( Kill three Confirmed hvt with hellfire missiles)
