source: https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2023-02-13-VISTA-X-62-Advancing-Autonomy-and-Changing-the-Face-of-Air-Power

Why aren’t we just making them their own thing instead of trying to make AI perform “like humans”. It seems counterintuitive when an AI doesn’t need a cockpit lol

In three years, Cyberdyne will become the largest supplier of military computer systems. All stealth bombers are upgraded with Cyberdyne computers, becoming fully unmanned. Afterwards, they fly with a perfect operational record. The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes online August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.

I believe that pilots and cockpits are still required for now during tests. However, I agree that it would be ideal for combat aircraft to have more advanced aerodynamics and even a very slim shape.

Or saucers. We will become the UFOs. Turn our fears against our enemies. Like Batman

Attack helicopters should be candidate #1 to go unmanned. They are effectively useless in a high density environment, but incredibly valuable in low density environments. Going unmanned could make them an order of magnitude more effective.

Economies of scale, and the problems to solve performance issues while having a cockpit are basically already solved. Removing the cockpit will do little to nothing to improve performance. And if a major war breaks out, you have an asset that can be immediately manned if need be. There's lots of reasons why you'd want to do it this way.

I literally started typing this comment before I saw yours LOL

So if an AI is piloting it does that make it a drone?

That's actually a really good question. What do you think? Maybe drone will be replacing every other word like "helicopter", "fighter jet". They'll just all be a different kinds of drones.

interesting perspective thanks

Feeling nostalgia for eighties movies like Airwolf and firefox

I don't see any way this could possibly go wrong

Agreed. But a top gun 3 with an AI as the main pilot wouldn't be a bad plot either haha they'll have to make it super futuristic looking though.

That made that movie already, it was bad

Somebody Dm me when Sharon Apple tickets go on sale

Macross Plus!

You mean like....an autopilot?

The spec for the next-gen fighter specifies both manned and unmanned modes. So that's what Lockheed is up to here. In the next-gen there are also plans for unmanned drones to operate as wingmen.

What Lockheed is up to is fucking us all in the ass to make fleets of multi million dollar aircraft that serve no real purpose other than to justify their business model. Look at the F-22. A completely useless product that only recently had its first direct air-to-air kill and that was a ballon.

F-22 is useless?

as a large language model, im not able to pilot an aircraft

Hal approves.

Actually, I guess Im dumb because the drone part is describing the remote human. Cut out the remote human and its something else.

This was my first thought. Including a cockpit and systems to keep a human comfortable and alive and safe are honestly a waste of space. If anything it should be a drone with ground control options as a backup in the event of a problem. That would be safer than having a pilot there in case of a problem anyway.

Hollywood: (creates terminator series to warn humans)
Humans: "that's fear mongering"
Also humans: proceeds to create ai attack helicopter drones

Why attack Russia? Aren't they our friends now?

People are ready for that, you think? Naive much? This is the only politically possible way for them to pull this off

Politically? Politically either you’re pro military spending or not. I don’t think the people who are anti military spending give a fuck what shape the plane is in dude

If they make these planes with no cockpit that will turn off even some of the hawks.

What are you talking about dude. Lockheed and Martin doesn’t give a flying fuck about “some hawks”

lol that was my first thought as well

Wait until it turns into Vector

Just don't try to pull the plug. Funny how one decision could change everything

What do you think a predator drone is?

I have no idea what I’m actually talking about, but I would guess that piloting a helicopter is far more difficult to automate than a plane or jet. Not that they couldn’t do it, but I would imagine this is an easier first step.

No, not really. They're already automating the blackhawk helicopter, it seems to be a matter of budgets and priorities.

Exactly what I was about to say. Skynet became self aware on 2/14/2023 and humans shit their pants.

Drones are the new helicopters.

>Im dumb because the drone part is describing the remote human.

Not at all, we'd just call it an autonomous drone until we come up with a shorter catchier name as they become more common.

I don't think the removal of the cockpit will yield little to no performance, especially in the area of stealth. Having a slimmer/inline profile will definitely have stealth benefits, which is one of the major considerations of modern fighters.

That being said, the technology needs to be proven before a plane can be designed around it.

It actually was August 4th, 2027.

Have you watched that movie lately its actually not as bad as people remember, it held up well

Macross plus vibes

Already seen this movie...

The planes are also designed with a cockpit in mind, so removing it could throw off the balance of the jet.

Job opportunities dropping like flies lmao

Autos?

> Removing the cockpit will do little to nothing to improve performance.

This is laughably wrong. No cockpit means better aerodynamics and stealth, more payload capacity, fuel capacity, etc

Isn't it ironic that AI is flying a viper. I guest the new nickname will be Cylon.

You still have to think of economies of scale, performance, flexibility, etc. High quality drones are still far from being produced in the numbers necessary to hit scale economies, and until that happens, optionally manned aircraft will be the way to go.

I see you are person of deculture.

That whole series is a anime version of Top Gun.

Maverick versus Ice

Skynet has it's wings!

You misspelled 'Killbots'.

All fighter aircraft will be fully autonomous by 2024 if there's a peer conflict. The real challenge isn't the technology but a risk and drone averse culture, so if say China or Russia decides they're at too great of a disadvantage and have little to lose from risking making all their jets unmanned, then this would force everyone else to adapt as well. Unquestioning robots that don't care about losses certainly are to the liking of totalitarian style regimes.

It's like in WW2 when the US rejected the idea of torpedo bombers to take out ships because they were convinced they wouldn't work (when their own testing proved that they would). It's not until the British and Japanese destroyed entire fleets that they adapted.

But now wars move so fast that there might not be enough time to adapt, the next Pearl Harbor might be called Washington.

On the technical side it's also not that hard, even the US has been flying unmanned jets, including F-16s, for decades. It's mostly a matter of developing the AI needed to manage them in a heavy jamming environment, but seeing as missiles and drones are already smart enough to execute complex missions to a certain level, it should be enough to automate all combat air vehicles to a high degree that they can defeat an enemy.

This can be very simple, such as China using mechanical autopilots to swarm Taiwan with unmanned J-5 and J-6, even with zero guidance and a high failure rate their simple presence will force Taiwan to shoot them down, or risk them crashing down filled with fuel and explosives, like modern day V-1 flying bombs, but probably accurate enough to hit an airfield or staging area.

Hello skynet my old friend

Yukikaze

Reckless. This is how ultron got out of control

wait so Shield AI is useless now? Why pay for their software when DARPA has it all figured out?

> John Connor: "No, you shouldn't exist. We took out Cyberdyne over ten years ago. We stopped Judgment Day." > > Terminator: "You only postponed it." > > -Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

No one say fire.

Optionally-piloted vehicle

You can't always have guaranteed communication with any aircraft, bandwidth limitations, weather, jamming, and just signal strength limitations.

One of the issues with some strikes historically has been the limited data sent back fir decision making.

Result- a lot of collateral damage, as people in the ground make quick decisions with grainy videos and limited supporting data, which leads to lots of collateral and civilian deaths.