Forum: Air Power

I was wondering, is it true that in future combat (after JSF and Raptor) UCAVs will replace manned fighters and even UAV Tankers, Transports etc will replace all other manned aircraft.

Besides the Engineers, Doctors and Scientists who will be officers, will the "would have been" pilots control those UAV/UCAVs through Radio/Satellite control on the ground?

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Well, nobody can say the future.
Every military aviation company now works on UCAV programs, but no air force has ever stated that manned aircraft will soon entirely disappear. The UCAV presence will probably increase a lot, but it is doubtful that UCAVs will be able to replace manned aircraft for every type of mission. What is planned instead in a foreseenable future is fleets composed of both manned aircraft and UCAVs, each type bringing its own qualities and possibilities.

Wildcat wrote:

What is planned instead in a foreseenable future is fleets composed of both manned aircraft and UCAVs, each type bringing its own qualities and possibilities.

Yeah, I've read on a magazine that in the future fighters like F/A-22 or F-35 will be flying along side X-45 UCAVs or some other UCAVs to carry out more riskier roles and reduce the chances of human loss.

One of the problems with UCAVs is that developing them costs money, more than previously thougt needed, even if they still cost less than manned aircraft like F-35 and F-22. So air forces will have to reduce the number of their manned assets to get UCAVs, but it seems that it is not the way the USAF has chosen so far.

The main challenge with designing UCAVs is to make them easily storable for a long time and still quickly deployable when needed. However, the aviation technology has never been oriented to work in that manner, so many things have to be created to make it work. Otherwise, the expected decrease in operating costs over manned aircraft will not be reached.

Tell you what. I would rather have more X-45 for strike work than going out and buying a huge number of JSF. X-45 is making excellent progress. If anything would put JSF at risk of being cancelled, this would be it.

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/200 ... 0319m.html

Boeing X-45A Begins Testing New Software Build

ST. LOUIS, March 19, 2004 – The Boeing X-45A unmanned aircraft completed two critical flights last week at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

The Boeing Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) X-45A technology demonstrator took to the air on Mar. 11 and 14. These were the first tests of the final build of the Block 2 software, flying to the aircraft’s maximum demonstration envelope of 0.75M and 35,000 ft; it also opened and closed the weapons bay, clearing the vehicle to conduct the rest of the Block 2 flights. The information gathered from the flights allow the team to proceed with the upcoming inert weapons drop from the X-45 weapons bay and multiple vehicle coordinated flights. The flight also included transmitting a (stored) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image to the ground operator, demonstrating the capability to do so within the operational timeline and bandwidth constraints.

“These flights went extremely well,” said Darryl Davis, J-UCAS X-45 program manager, for Boeing. “Not only did we gather critical data enabling future milestones, the aircraft demonstrated its ability to interoperate with manned aircraft. During the test, a T-38 pilot declared an in-flight emergency when our aircraft was on final approach with the gear down. Our team successfully sent the X-45 around the pattern allowing the other aircraft to land uneventfully.”

http://www.boeing.com/phantom/ucav.html

I agree with you at least on one point: a UCAV is well enough if you only launch GPS-guided munitions on preset coordinates, which actually means that UCAVs could fulfill many of the planned tasks for the JSF.

For instance, I think the ground troops would love the idea of UCAVs flying over the FLOT at any time, ready to launch GPS weapons on coordinates sent by them whenever they need it. You do not need a pilot in this case, as the target would have already been clearly recognized by the ground troops.

Do you have information about the "storability" problem? I was not able to find anything interesting (except very general discussion) so far.

Well you are going to have a pilot overwatching them. So even though the pilot is not in the cockpit, they are "there" in one shape or form. These things aren't an absolute answer but they are going to make life easier that is for sure. Certainly as part of the bigger team ( converted USN Ohio class boomer subs shooting cruise missiles, JASSM, JASSM-ER, F-22 lead door kicking with SDB, B-2, decoys, jamming etc. Going up against a stiff air defense network the first big night or two, should have less total number of aircrew at risk.

Yes, UCAVs will be a good help!
I have the impression that the US UCAVs programs are right on the way for gold-plating. I hope that UCAVs won't become another super-expensive marvel...
Confused

(not saying that the French program is better, it is just that nearly nothing has been revealed about it so far, apart from deails and PR pictures)

For me, I don't think it will totally replace manned aircraft. Cos until today, UAV is mainly use for air to ground mission e.g recee, or firing an hellfire missile from predator. It will not be easy to design and built an UACV that is as aglie as the F-16 which can perform air to air mission. Very Happy

News release on the Boeing web today, X-45 dropped an SSB (Small Smart Bomb) on a test flight on 3/20 at Edwards range. There is a realplayer video but I don't think it is accessible to the outside world.

Please get me some links on that ASAP if there are any HABU2 Very Happy

habu2 wrote:

News release on the Boeing web today, X-45 dropped an SSB (Small Smart Bomb) on a test flight on 3/20 at Edwards range. There is a realplayer video but I don't think it is accessible to the outside world.

......News release on the Boeing web today...

I just looked. No such release. Only thing I saw was what was already posted Re: excellent software progress and that they would start doing drops sometime in the future.

elp, check your PMs - the news I saw was on our intranet, may not be visible beyond the firewall...

habu2 wrote:

elp, check your PMs - the news I saw was on our intranet, may not be visible beyond the firewall...

Nope.

Guess I will have to wait for the press release. Thanks anyway.

elp, the press release and video are now up on the public Boeing website:

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/200 ... 0324s.html

Forum: Air Power

Unmanned Aerial Combat Vehicles...