Does Pilot = Dodo?

[A4sForever]

Chicoms?! I hate to say it but you are showing a little age :icon_wink ............ The only place I have seen that is in history books......

And my PC employer agrees with you as well ... My view -- China: one big gray prison. The sky is gray, the buildings are gray, even the people are gray.....

Aaaaah, yes, the "good old days". Well, not to worry guys, THEY will always be "ChiComs" in MY heart. And to many of my "brothers" also as long as this flies over the mainland.

"We'll" never say die .... and the spirit of Navy attack aviation lives on ... I still have fond (?) memories of some long-ago, lost SIOP targets.

Oh, well, where did I put my wheelchair? It's probably "made in China", as well ....

 

[Broadsword2004]

Personally, I don't think fighter planes are going to totally disappear because they will probably always need test pilots for testing aircraft types that would need pilots; also, PEOPLE LIKE TO FLY. Sort of like how scientists envision one day a highway with all the cars travelling a foot apart, all in perfect harmony, at like 90 mph.......PEOPLE LIKE TO DRIVE, so I doubt that will ever happen. Even with online shopping, malls aren't going the way of the dodo....PEOPLE LIKE TO SHOP. So what I mean is, how will they ever have men of the rank of General in the Air Force if they do away with pilots? Like I said, people love to fly, and if you're going to make the top UAV pilots Generals someday, you may as well just make that rank available to the world's top videogames players who can play UAV-type games, as I am sure videogames simulating UAV combat will be not too different from real UAV combat by the time UAVs would come around to being able to replace piloted aircraft.

But humans like to fly. I don't think piloted aircraft will ever go, even if they get the technology for it; aside from maybe very dangerous missions.

 

[Texan]

Yikes... good to see discussion is alive and well.

First off... Ace, you'd better work on that packet a bit more... I'm still puttin in my app and unless they dog me for my eyes or something stupid, the competition is hot.

10 spots this past class... sorry, not year. Was listening to a local who just got back from OCS. Maybe it was 10 OCS spots this year? someone can correct me (again) on this.

Next, I think some of you are SERIOUSLY underestimating the speed at which UAV technology is moving. type in "UAV technology" into Google and see how many listings come up. Some of them are actually pretty interesting reads. The fact that it's not just the Lockheeds and Boeings that do these things, but Joebob and his kid in the garage making models that fly themselves is what's scary.

Like Patmack said, it'll probably be 2 generations before this becomes a serious problem for us, but it's interesting to look the future head on sometimes.

Just my $.02

 

[wannabef18pilot]

Yea, I agree man. Too many people including myslef talk junk about how there are no pilot slots b/c the Navy is downsizing and there is no longer a need for pilots because of the "smaller" war againt terrorists, UAV's, etc.

maybe the A-6 pilot is right, we need to go to war with China or the russians because they have Su-37's.

 

[HueyCobra8151]

Man, I wish I had gotten in this one earlier, I was all set to say:

It will all be pointless once Skynet takes over everything anyway

But I got beat to the punch.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

Wow, with the UAV's taking over, it looks like most of you are gonna end up being a SWO. Congratulations and welcome! Guess we better shut down Air Warriors now...no need for it anymore.

 

[skidkid]

I'll believe it when I get a bird with less than 8 avi gripes on it.

 

[A4sForever]

I can't believe no NFO's saw the title of this thread and interjected something "witty". You guys are slipping.

Ooooohh. And here I thought that was how you spelled it (?)

 

[Raptor2216]

I can understand that UAV technology is moving at a fast pace but I know for a fact that its not moving fast enough to endanger out future. A lot of these companies claim they can do the impossible but a lot of them also fail. Look at the commanche project as an example. Another example is AI for automated cars. They really don't have anything that you can trust your life with so I find it hard to believe when any company wants to claim that computers will replace the pilot within the near future. Also, aviation is expanding in more ways than just one. I believe the next biggest thing will be space travel and i'm doubtfull that computers will be the ones to do all the exploring. In my opinion, there will ALWAYS be a need for pilots and it will include a lot more than just military or airline pilots.

 

[Broadsword2004]

The Army scrapped the Commanche, but remember, not necessarily the Commanche technology. They are using the technology that was developed for the Commanche, just the helicopter itself was scrapped right now.

Kent, I don't think the Navy wants to cut its air wings, I think it just has to do with $$$.

As for China, they still have a while to go before becoming a threat to the U.S. on the same scale the Soviet Union was. Their Air Force has no combat experience outside of maybe some WWII stuff, their pilots get less training, they have no experience operating aircraft carriers, they have no experience in submarine warfare, etc.....they have a while.

 

[metro]

Man, I wish I had gotten in this one earlier, I was all set to say:

It will all be pointless once Skynet takes over everything anyway

But I got beat to the punch.

See, THIS guy knows what I'm talking about.

 

[Texan]

without wanting to change the direction of this post, let me remind you all that numbers do play a significant factor in war. US population <300 million. Chinese population >1.3 BILLION. That's almost 5 to 1, and exactly what Mao Zedong (hehe-- ze-dong) had in mind. He knew that the chinese were way behind on technology and training... but he figured that when WWIII rolled around, he'd have enough human shields to take a good whack at the title.

 

[phrogdriver]

Frankly, in quality v. quantity, I'll stick w/quality. Which would you rather fight from? A Bradley or a BMP? Drop a stick of iron bombs or 1 JDAM?

It may not be tommorrow, but technology's advance is at a near geometric rate. Strike will become much more standoff, if not completely automated. Look how far the UCAV concept has come in the past 5 years--how much better will it be in 20.

 

[Broadsword2004]

Air superiority and a quality fighting force wins a war such as WWIII (assuming nukes aren't used), not crappy air power and huge sizes of manpower; it wouldn't take much (assuming air superiority) to bomb the Chinese manufacturing centers and the major Chinese cities, meaning you'd really have 1 billion starving people; and even with the supplies, the Chinese would still have to train and supply all those troops too.

And from what I hear, China is shrinking their military; they themselves know such a huge army is rather pointless these days.

 

[Raptor2216]

well, I suppose the more important question is, will it really matter in my lifetime? Luckily, since I have my foot in the door already and I know that no computers will be replacing my spot within the next 15 years, I really don't care.