Drone Completes First-Ever Automated Carrier Landing

[___________________]

Automated, cold, heartless war machines? Well if they go bananas at least we'll be able to shoot guns at them and not feel guilty. It can be very therapeutic.

 

[Antari]

Well it can take off and land. Now we just need to teach it how to fight.

 

[Thaluikhain]

The Navy likes their drones BIG, don't they?

Maybe I'm just too used to seeing Predator drones on TV or something.

They deliberately made it similar size to conventional aircraft for comparison purposes.

Were the Drones at fault? No, for they cannot make decisions on their own, but the effects of these technologies are already becoming obvious. It distances the pilot from the action. It's much easier to pull the trigger when you're on the other side of the world sitting in front of a computer screen. When you don't feel as involved or responsible for what happens in a warzone, chances are you won't be as hesitant to utilise lethal force. And this mentality will likely only increase in regularity as these veichles become more independent.

While that is true, bomber pilots have always been fairly distant from the action, and even moreso the people giving the orders.

This particular drone is completely automated. It doesn't need a human pilot. All it needs is orders, it will then be able to launch itself, carry out its orders, and return to base once its done.

Do you have a source for this?

...

Anyway, I'm not too worried about autonomous drones for political reasons. The first time there's a friendly fire incident they'll be grounded, and target identification is a massive issue. People have weapons that work beyond visual range that they hardly ever use because of this.

 

[The Critic]

It's amazing, the things that they can get these things to do, now. Size is also pretty darn impressive, though I doubt that the production versions will be quite that big.

Heh, at this point, it's only a matter of time until FedEx or some other shipping company adopts this. Can you imagine that, commercial drone cargo jets?

Ah, back on topic, this is pretty damn awesome, tech-wise.

An automated landing may not seem like a big deal, but landing on an aircraft carrier is one of the hardest jobs there is for a human pilot. The deck itself is a relatively tiny strip of real estate floating on the undulating waves of the sea, you're approaching it at something just shy of ludicrous speed and putting wheels on it is just half the battle: You also have to catch a steel cable with your arrestor hook or it's back around for another try, assuming you don't end up in the drink.

You know, looking at that reminded me of a Dos Gringos song. Let me see if I can find it...