The Need For Speed

[Mynock]

Not only does it give you the edge in speed and maneuverability, it also keeps the most important part of the aircraft--the pilot--out of harms way. You blow up a drone, you lose a few million dollars worth of aircraft and guns. You blow up a manned plane, you still lose a couple million dollars of aircraft and guns, but you also lose countless years of training and experience in the form of the guy that just got vaporized along with the machinery. You can build a new Raptor in a few months (hell probably weeks if you really got the production line going) but it takes years to 'build' a pilot and equip him/her with enough experience to fly an aircraft in combat.
I'm surprised they haven't tried to adopt the technology to ground based vehicles as well. if a guy in a booth at Edwards AFB in California can fly a Predator over Afganistan, how hard could it be to run an M1 Abrahms or a missle equipped humvee the same way?

[DangerGirl]

It also puts you at the mercy of any power with a viable anti-satellite capability. Flying combat missions halfway around the globe from a control cell at Nellis is great until the beyond-the-horizon datalink capability is taken out by someone less reliant on satellites than we are. I'm not saying that UCAS isn't a viable concept, just that we shouldn't put all our eggs in the unmanned basket.

[kham]

From US Navy Jeep , the latest free electron laser news.

Love how they calling it 'superlaser'
Dont think you want that much firepower, but 500kV, and cut through 2000 ft/sec of steel ?

I have this image of some enemy ship ending up like a Narn Cruiser vs a Shadow deathray....

[Mynock]

Love how they calling it 'superlaser'

The words "Commence Primary Ignition" do come to mind......

[nachtjaeger]

Now, if we only had a ship big enough to house a large racetrack-style accelerator, and able to produce ludicrous amounts of electricity- something like a nuclear carrier with electric drive?

"In Valen's name! It's AWAKE!"

From US Navy Jeep , the latest free electron laser news.

Love how they calling it 'superlaser'
Dont think you want that much firepower, but 500kV, and cut through 2000 ft/sec of steel ?

I have this image of some enemy ship ending up like a Narn Cruiser vs a Shadow deathray....

[Mynock]

The newer carriers make enough juice to power small cities, I'd imagine if you turned off a few lights you'd have enough spare to power that thing.
Or hell, just make them land based. Plant one every 100 miles or so up and down the coast and you'd have a virtually impenetrable defense network.

[water_bug_62208]

It also puts you at the mercy of any power with a viable anti-satellite capability. Flying combat missions halfway around the globe from a control cell at Nellis is great until the beyond-the-horizon datalink capability is taken out by someone less reliant on satellites than we are. I'm not saying that UCAS isn't a viable concept, just that we shouldn't put all our eggs in the unmanned basket.

I concur with DangerGirl on this.

How soon we forget that someone managed to tap into the optics of a Predator over in the Iraq/Afghanistan theater sometime back and was able to see everything the vehicle and its masters back in the trailer saw. Yes, they say the people who hacked into the Predator's optics didn't access anything important or vital that would've allowed them to take control of the aircraft. My concern here is how long before they can? And, some of these unmanned vehicles are armed these days. It would suck big time to have one of these taken over by the enemy and turned against our troops.

I understand the need to use unmanned technology to protect human life and to limit the exposure of valuable, experienced pilots to the dangers of flight and anti-aircraft fire; HOWEVER, you can never, and should never, completely replace the on-scene human element (i.e., pilot in the cockpit) and his/her absolute mastery of the aircraft. My opinion is you're asking for trouble by doing otherwise.

Unmanned vechiles are a necessary and effective tool; yet we should not, and should never, rely on it completely. There'll always be a need for a pilot to be physically present in the cockpit of an aircraft.

[water_bug_62208]

The newer carriers make enough juice to power small cities, I'd imagine if you turned off a few lights you'd have enough spare to power that thing.
Or hell, just make them land based. Plant one every 100 miles or so up and down the coast and you'd have a virtually impenetrable defense network.

Even better... couple the land-based systems with submarine-based systems to ensure survivability. Does a "triad" weapons concept sound familiar? I'm all for redundancy and back-ups.

[nachtjaeger]

One of the SciFi writers (forget which one) came up with the idea of a human WSO having command of a squadron of intelligent UCAVs. You just gave them commands such as "attack that" and they flew themselves. Same goes for a tank commander- you could have a platoon of robot tracks, but under operational command of a human within LOS.

It also puts you at the mercy of any power with a viable anti-satellite capability. Flying combat missions halfway around the globe from a control cell at Nellis is great until the beyond-the-horizon datalink capability is taken out by someone less reliant on satellites than we are. I'm not saying that UCAS isn't a viable concept, just that we shouldn't put all our eggs in the unmanned basket.

[nachtjaeger]

Use these critters to power the land-based systems. And when the laser isn't in use, they can power the grid safely and cheaply. http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com/product.html

The newer carriers make enough juice to power small cities, I'd imagine if you turned off a few lights you'd have enough spare to power that thing.
Or hell, just make them land based. Plant one every 100 miles or so up and down the coast and you'd have a virtually impenetrable defense network.

Even better... couple the land-based systems with submarine-based systems to ensure survivability. Does a "triad" weapons concept sound familiar? I'm all for redundancy and back-ups.