<p>First, be aware that I do not advocate this path. I fear it and it saddens me. Robots are going to ruin life as we know it. Also, I served three years on a Navy aircraft carrier, and I earned a private pilot license some years ago. So, have nothing against pilots or airplanes.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, Google already has proven that self driving cars will work, for example. As soon as the robot is more reliable than a human, the human will be gone from combat aircraft. Plus, they don’t “design aircraft with cockpits for humans” – they find a way to get a human in there because they have no choice. </p>
<p>The human being is already the most limiting aspect in aircraft. As a simple example, the “g-force” capability of a jet fighter has always been limited by its pilot, not the aircraft. A robot eliminates that problem – and a ton of other limitations.</p>
<p>A robot piloted fighter aircraft will not be independent. It will always be under remote control from some air base (or equivalent). The person controlling it will be highly trained… at least at first.</p>
<p>We will have to agree to disagree on a number of points.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The space used for a “cockpit” is not something that aircraft designers just found empty and found a way to get a human into. That space is specifically designed for humans and is optimized to increase pilot situation awareness and control. No sense filling that space with a robot…just control the aircraft remotely as we do now with RPAs. Again, different missions have different needs. There is a purpose/need for RPAs, just as there will be (for the foreseeable future) a need for manned aircraft.</p></li>
<li><p>The fallacy with your argument is that “as soon as the robot is more reliable than a human…”. Not going to happen in the next 50+ years. Will better methods of remote HUMAN control of aircraft improve? Almost certainly. Will “they” replace pilots in fighter aircraft? No…not in the time frame we are considering. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Again…we will have to agree to disagree on this matter. Feel free to have the last word if you like.</p>
<p>But your argument is flawed on both points. The cockpit is a hinderance to design, not the point of it all, and could easily be filled by a robot. By the way, the F-35 has been criticized precisely because it does not meet the optimal conditions, for a pilot, which you mentioned. No wonder, the pilot is the main design limitation.</p>
<p>I am afraid that you have not kept up with advancing computer technology. It is generally agreed, for example, that by the year 2024 we will have a computer which is smarter than any person. Then in 2044 a computer will exist which is smarter than the total intelligence of all the human beings who have ever lived. Combine with micro-machines, and you make pilots obsolete.</p>
<p>I might be wrong about 2030. Definitely, absolutely, no combat pilots by the year 2050 however. I hate it as much as you do, but that day will come.</p>
<p>[P.S. I am an engineer. My brother-in-law is an electronics engineer who works for Lockheed in the military branch and, indeed, in electronics for the cockpit. I know what I am talking about, and am not dreaming this stuff up.]</p>
<p>(I had no idea this was out there. Found it today)
Maybe it will take a few more years to replace human piloted aircraft, but not many years. Once that barrier falls, the dominoes will tumble – fast!</p>
<p>So, in sum, it will be okay for an 18 year old to embark now on a military pilot career, but the competition will become more intense for the dwindling positions as computers take over. The USAFA class of 2024 and beyond will have little hope of such a career.</p>
<p>It is POSSIBLE to do a lot of things. It is not PROBABLE that the US Military will widely field the latest technology on a massive scale, while maintaining itself at the cutting edge of the possible. That is just too expensive, and too quick for such a large bureaucracy like the DOD. </p>
<p>An iPad with an ADS-B puck can do more than the combined avionics of quite a few aircraft in the fleet. Do you really believe that we will transition to completely new technology, in multi-billion dollar weapons-systems, at the same rate Google or Apple can put out new music systems?</p>
<p>Have they even finally retired the BUFF? The real reason things will last is that we will keep flying old airframes as long as it is more cost effective than building new ones…unless politicians get involved and make the military buy things they don’t need…as if that ever happened.</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification on the MOC thing. I knew they had at least 4 per school.</p>