Re:A Cold War Legacy: The Decline of Stealth
by Retric on Wednesday January 21, 2015 @04:41PM
(#8925958)
Drones are ideal for day to day ground support.
Cheap, high loiter time the cost is low speed so they have to already be in country. And the Air force has been buying a lot of drones. Manned fighters are currently much better for patrolling large areas of airspace and maintaining air superiority.
As to swarms picture the minimum drone that can hit a target that’s traveling at 2.5 times the speed of sound at 65,000 feet. Now how many of those do you need to patrol say the entire US border. Don't get me wrong the swarm concept is useful, the only problem is the minimum useful airframe vs modern fighers is not tiny.
Ps: This is of course highly simplified. Cruise missiles are great at dismantling vary high value targets, but there also vary pricey and can’t loiter.
Cheap, high loiter time the cost is low speed so they have to already be in country. And the Air force has been buying a lot of drones. Manned fighters are currently much better for patrolling large areas of airspace and maintaining air superiority.
As to swarms picture the minimum drone that can hit a target that’s traveling at 2.5 times the speed of sound at 65,000 feet. Now how many of those do you need to patrol say the entire US border. Don't get me wrong the swarm concept is useful, the only problem is the minimum useful airframe vs modern fighers is not tiny.
Ps: This is of course highly simplified. Cruise missiles are great at dismantling vary high value targets, but there also vary pricey and can’t loiter.