Tornado Alley (PROG)

[F6]

hookrider -- there could conceivably come the day when there are hypersonic passenger aircraft -- that fly themselves

didn't mean to suggest that we couldn't make 'em work with humans inside -- but in particular in a military/intelligence aircraft, there is a cost, the space/gear/systems that go specifically with having to have a fully laid-out cockpit for the intricately suited human pilot(s) who must be kept alive (and conscious) -- a cost which becomes worse than pointless if and as the aircraft can be made to fly and carry out missions all by itself as well as, let alone better than, any human pilot(s)

it has, after all, been just about 2 years now since the X-47B ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_X-47B ) -- the experimental second-stage prototype which has been testing systems for a new class of carrier-based autonomous drone attack bomber that (except only as may be otherwise directed by those bothersome humans during a mission) flies/carries out its assigned/preloaded mission completely by itself, from leaving its parking spot through take-off through very sophisticated navigation around/through defenses/threats and to target(s) through very precise/effective action against target(s) through coming back and landing and returning to its parking spot -- it's been about 2 years now since the X-47B completed its first, autonomous/completely flying itself, carrier take-off and carrier landing, and just last month it completed its first autonomous/completely flying itself aerial refueling -- and they're gonna work together, in squadrons or whatever other size grouping/swarm -- on a mission with a given target set, all seeing what any of them sees (and all of course also tied into all the available remote sensing networks), and by themselves together very effectively formulating a group attack plan, allocating among themselves where each one is to go and what each one is to do -- . . .

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