3,000 lb payload is nice, but I wonder about one pilot handling multiple planes, especially under fire or doing a strike.


[url]news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2124000/2124946.stm[/url]

... Yeah baby, we've been working on this almost ten years now.
At the time of conception it was "Blue Sky" and we were skeptical of its performance. Technology growth and maturity is accepted easier over development and validation phases by Customers when air vehicles are unmanned. So, we have "grown" into the art and science as opposed to being forced into it, reactively,  by our enemies advances like usual.
UCAV is the wave of the next C3 battlefield.
Wait until you see stuff on the "Dragonfly"!

Ever read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card?

It would be logical to assume the pilot would actively fly only 1 bird at a time while the remaining 4 would be held in a loiter pattern at the minimum safe distance, or would be programmed to fly a predetermined route at a staggered interval so that as the lead bird egresses the target it is auto piloted back while the pilot switches over to the next bird to make another run at the target.  

Remember the pilot would not feel the direct threat of enemy fire and his/her stress level would be greatly reduced.  Just like playing a video game except the bad guys really die.

Yes....One of the truely great works of modern SciFi.

I live in Enid Oklahoma, Home of Vance AirForce Base, Air Training Command. I have this sneaking feeling that barring a full scale World War, we may lose a couple of training bases in the next round of BRaC (Base Realignment and Closing.) because of UCAV's....Gulp [>:/]

Well, you'd hope so, but imagine you have control of one craft on a bombing run while another one enroute starts taking ground fire.

And hey, I get plenty stressed at times playing HALO, though you do adapt to it.

... UCAVs will not replace piloted fighters, but you have to admit, if you were a commander you would certainly appreciate their role in an attack mission.

Maybe softening up the enemy by taking out signal generators, forward listening posts and moving targets that ALCMs, GLCM's and JADAMs cannot keep up with because of the lack of real time intel.

... Don't poo poo them.

There probably is some pre-programmed "evade" pattern that can be activated on craft "A", to allow the operator to attend to higher priorities with another craft, "B", then return to resume control of the hopefully surviving "A" to complete the mission.