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Aircraft Super Thread Mk.VII


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Even if an AI can pull off such stunts, would the airframe still be able to take it? 9G stuff tends to take its toll. And though you may save some internal space without life support etc the AI itself might need cooling systems and a back-up ZX Spectrum for when a lucky shot turns the proto-plasmic protonic gel processor into spaghetti...

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US fighters air-frames are designed to withstand sustained 9Gs (its cumulative effects do eventually catch up, though), not due to engineering/manufacturing or materials limitations, but due to the physical limitations of the human pilots. Remove the meat-bag payload and there is nothing preventing the development of a 12, 15, 20G air-frame that would mostly negate strain of regular 9G or 12G or higher maneuvering. From a romantic point of view, a thinking human being will always be preferred, but from a practical standpoint AI is the future. Also, any lucky shot that could turn the AI unit into spaghetti could easily be a lucky shot that turns a fighter jock into hamburger meat... same result as far as the plane is concerned; except that with the AI there is no loss of a pilot's life or the investment in his/her training.

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Well, assuming that the AI doesn't need training in the first place e.g. how to recognise the difference between the Huggylands Happy Home For Orphaned Puppies and the Secret Underground Volcanic Rocket Base Villains Lair (sponsored by SONY)... :)

I did forget about air-to-air missiles which obviously can pull very high Gs though they're obviously not usually designed to be re-used...

Edited by F-ZeroOne
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I think part of the appeal to an AI pilot is that the aircraft can pull high g maneuvers that would knock out or kill even the best human pilot. When the time came to switch over to human flight the pilot would be a pile of mush :lol: .

True. But as soon as g-forces relax, consciousness usually returns pretty quick.And if not, then a shot of adrenaline (I am NOT a doctor!) would serve to rouse the pilot.The AI would be in control all through regardless. But the human factor is still there, able to flip the OFF switch if need be. Or able to take control if enemy ECM takes out the AI... Cause you know, as we develop pilotless aircraft, N.Korea (as just an example of a low-tech threat) would be plotting ways to disable them.

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Lets meet in the middle ground, cyborg pilots. Still can make the human decisions but has the abilities/reactions of an AI. The AI overlords would be moving us towards that as the next step in evolution anyways, lets impress them and beat em to it.

Edited by dizman
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I find the idea of a AI support system far more appealing than a pure AI controlled craft, particularly since no firewall or other cyberspace security measure is infallible. Plus with advances in missile capabilities (AIM-9X, Python 5 for example) and electronic countermeasures, having a hyper-maneuverable aircraft seems unnecessary.

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Way, way back in the mists of UK time, when one could still buy war comics with names like "Battle" and "Warlord", the latter (I think) used to run a strip every now and again about a Harrier jump jet equipped with an A.I. co-pilot (well, in those days no-one had invented the term "A.I." so it was a "computer" co-pilot). Oddly enough, I recall that the Harrier was a two-seater, which raises the question of what the other guy did who wasn't flying (possibly a technician overseeing the computer?). The ones I remember were drawn by the great, though possibly in the US somewhat obscure, Ian Kennedy (http://downthetubes.net/?p=27517; gawd that guy could draw aircraft!).

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US fighters air-frames are designed to withstand sustained 9Gs (its cumulative effects do eventually catch up, though), not due to engineering/manufacturing or materials limitations, but due to the physical limitations of the human pilots. Remove the meat-bag payload and there is nothing preventing the development of a 12, 15, 20G air-frame that would mostly negate strain of regular 9G or 12G or higher maneuvering. From a romantic point of view, a thinking human being will always be preferred, but from a practical standpoint AI is the future. Also, any lucky shot that could turn the AI unit into spaghetti could easily be a lucky shot that turns a fighter jock into hamburger meat... same result as far as the plane is concerned; except that with the AI there is no loss of a pilot's life or the investment in his/her training.

F-16 is capable of pulling 9G+, but you'll bend the airframe or crack a wing spar...

Some Israeli pilots claim to have exceeded 10G in the F-15

Hell, one had a mid-air and lost an entire wing and brought the thing home 'safely'

A human pilot could conceivably 'slam into' a 10G turn without becoming a bag of soup... though you might break your neck if your head is in the wrong position...

A 12G pull is survivable, but not sustainable for any length of time, and may instantly GLOC you even if you're trained, fit and wearing a G-suit... which is a death-sentence if you're in a dogfight.

at -2G or -3G you'll red-out.

removing the squishy-human-element from the equation means your AI-fighter can theoretically pull up to whatever your design limitations are and not even worry about it...

which is a terrifying thought considering the electronics in a M982 Excalibur shell are rated beyond 15,500 G :ph34r:

Edited by slide
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Now that was a close call.

I'd love to have been in that cockpit... talk about pucker-factor... I'm honestly surprised the E2 clawed it's way back into the sky!

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It still surprises me that the modern US Navy still uses black and white cameras...

gotta trim that defense budget somewhere I guess..... :D

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G forces pulled by fighter aircraft are also limited by the load configuration. F-16's slicked out are capable of repeated 9+ g turns with little to no damage to the frame. The game changes completely when you start mounting external weapons, pylons and fuel tanks. The T.O. 1F-16-6 has set categories for over G situations depending on the load and amount of G's sustained over the set G limit. When this occurs us crew chiefs have to inspect for defects in the frame. Each inspection gets more extensive depending on which level of category the pilot over G'd the aircraft.

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Theres a story that when a consultant was bought in by the Thatcher government to try and make Concorde profitable, he ran a survey asking passengers what they thought the tickets cost. Apparently they all answered a figure that was much higher than the actual cost, so they changed the prices up to match the perception... :)

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Certain planes have been built with higher g-loading allowances from the start, but payloads definitely limit things significantly.

I remember reading that the F-16XL was actually designed to take up to 18 Gs, and its payload distribution wasn't clustered together like the Strike Eagle, with single weapon pylons mounted all over the underside of the wing, which probably helped reduce the stress on the wings.

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This is what I got to do tonight at work.....run ground for a leak check on GE 132 on the jet we just finished phasing today.......

thats awesome! you have a very cool or should I say HOT (afterburner) job!

how common are leaks and what is meant by "phasing" ??

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