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Re:AI slays top F-16 pilot in DARPA dogfight simulation by kadoban on Friday August 21, 2020 @07:48PM (#24240115)
I would suspect that that's due to there being no point in the past of engineering aircraft that can do acceleration that would kill the pilot inside.

Now that no pilot is necessarily needed, different choices can be made.

Re:AI slays top F-16 pilot in DARPA dogfight simulation by stouset on Friday August 21, 2020 @07:59PM (#24240215)
No pilot doesn't change the fundamental calculus that high-G maneuvers are virtually useless against an oncoming missile.

Even if you could pull an instantaneous 10G acceleration completely perpendicular to your direction of flight without shedding airspeed (think: sideways-mounted rocket motor), in the time it takes a missile to close the last mile, you've moved less than 100ft. And all the while, the oncoming missile is actively tracking you. Even if it misses that's no big deal, since it uses proximity fuzing to blow up at its closest point to you.

High-G maneuvers are great for close-in battles to outmaneuver another plane and prevent a guns solution. They're becoming increasingly useless against modern IR missiles like the AIM-9X, and they're absolutely useless against a missile approaching at ludicrous speeds from 75+ miles away.