Re:AI slays top F-16 pilot in DARPA dogfight simulation
by taneq on Friday August 21, 2020 @10:45PM
(#24241133)
Bigger fighters definitely still have a place, but I'm not sure manned ones do. Imagine a dogfight between a manned fighter jet with a maximum G limit of 15G and an AI fighter jet with a limit of 30G - it won't even be close.
Re:AI slays top F-16 pilot in DARPA dogfight simulation
by nradov on Sunday August 23, 2020 @09:17AM
(#24251691)
It isn't feasible to design an AI fighter jet with a limit of 30G. The airframe necessary to handle that strain would be way too heavy, seriously limiting the fuel load. And how would you avoid compressor stall in a 30G turn?
Dogfights no longer occur anyway. What matters is early detection.
Re:AI slays top F-16 pilot in DARPA dogfight simulation
by dodobirdlord on Saturday August 22, 2020 @01:52PM
(#24245826)
To add another response, (a) dogfighting is not something 5th+ gen fighters need to be good at and (b) no fighter is ever going to tolerate 30G in anything except maybe a straight line. Fighters are big and have big shear stresses and would tear apart long before then.
Re:AI slays top F-16 pilot in DARPA dogfight simulation
by dodobirdlord on Saturday August 22, 2020 @04:59AM
(#24242801)
I said AI-piloted in the first sentence.
Light drones and big expensive aircraft will both exist in the future and play separate roles. They also won't interact much, aside from a fighter group spearheading a drone group. A drone swarm is too diffuse to be a worthwhile target for a fighter's weapons, but a fighter is too fast to be engaged by a drone swarm.
Air battles of the future will likely be conceptually similar to air battles today, but with light drones replacing bombers with guided bombs. An initial wave of fighters will contest air superiority. If they achieve it they will use it to launch long-range attacks to disable a small number of anti-drone hard points. Once the way is clear a wave of smaller, slower drones can swarm in and bomb a large number of targets with precision.