F-16 Drone...

[petermcleland]

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/F- ... 623-1.html

[Garry Russell]

I was ready thins yesterday...the technology certainly seems to work...what about the practicality

Michael O'Leary must be watching this with interest...maybe never be allowed, but I know he wants to

[TSR2]

BAE where doing this for USAF Phantoms 3 or 4 years ago. Is this one only hitting the press because Boeing have done it?

[Dev One]

Dont forget the Fireflies, Meteors & Sea Vixens that were droned over here by Flight Refuelling & Fairey at Hayes using Elliots, then GEC avionics. I just wonder though if they would have a duplicate system that was required in the UK, as most US Q ships have only a single simplex system. I think Tyndal use TV cameras for take - off & landing, but some other sites use a chase aircraft to control take off & landing. Mind you, they dont often return!!!! Because Jindiviks used a towed system they averaged over 80 sorties per airframe! The F16 might be interesting as I think its fly by wire to start with....
Keith

[Garry Russell]

Queen Bee???

Isn' t the difference here that it's for combat rather than target/test/crashing and a host of other uses radio controlled real aeroplanes have been used for??

[dodger]

Seems to me these Top Brass have Bugger all else to do but think up these ideas,

Where is Tom Cruise he can show them a thing or two

Roger.

[NigelC]

It's a target Garry, the advantage is that the F-16 can manoeuvre to give a much more up-to-date theat/evasion scenario than earlier drones. Sustained high G turns being the first that comes to mind.


The same vid. but article from Boeing Web Site http://www.boeing.com/boeing/Features/2 ... k.facebook

[Garry Russell]

Ah well...if a target then as said...we've been doing it since before I was born

[petermcleland]

It is certainly a long way from the towed gliders that I occasionally got to shoot at...Still, even that was more exciting than shooting at a canvas banner:-

[Chris Trott]

It's a "big deal" because it's the first of the 4th Generation fighters to be outfitted as a Drone and signals the end of the "old school" birds (Phantoms) being used. It's also the first Fly-By-Wire aircraft to be converted into an operational target drone. There have been "drones" made before with FBW, but all were considered test platforms. This is an "operational" conversion since it is the first of many F-16A's that will receive the treatment and end up as a pile of junk in the Gulf of Mexico after a few flights.