Sometimes History Happens Quietly

There was a major historic moment yesterday that you might have missed. An unmanned drone landed on an aircraft carrier. The drone, an X-47B demonstrator aircraft, landed on the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush off the coast of Virginia yesterday.

Fox Business News carried the picture:

northrop grumman navy drone

So why is this so important? What is the cost of training a military pilot to fly a fighter plane versus the cost of training a military pilot to operate a drone? How many systems can be left out a a drone that are necessary in a manned fighter plane–ejection seat, cabin pressure system, cabin temperature system, etc.? What is involved in the rescue of a downed pilot or the negotiations for that pilot if he is taken prisoner? In a dogfight a pilot is limited by the amount of G’s he can endure as well as the amount of G’s the plane can endure. If a drone is involved in a dogfight, it is only limited by the number of G’s the plane can take.

Yesterday was a preview of the nintendo wars of the future.

 

 

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