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Comment by Retric | Hacker News Reader

The F16 cost about 1/2 what an F15 cost. In the end the F16 allowed the F15 to be more focused which was a huge net win.

The crazy thing is the close air support and bomber roles are much better suited for drone aircraft so at least one of it's missions is pure BS from the start.

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Honestly, I'm not sure why drones aren't considered better for air superiority as well - better power to weight ratio, no human-imposed G limits, probably better maneuverability due to better wing area to weight ratio, potential for 360 degree vision, and without needing to worried about losing highly trained pilots, you could also explore making many more cheap drones that are individually inferior but collectively superior.

What about EMPs or communication attacks?

Why would a normal jet fare any better in an EMP attack than a drone? Communication attacks, maybe, but there's no reason you couldn't have some limited level of autonomy to bring it back home automatically in the event of a comms failure.

Because if your enemy can simply ground your fighter fleet with a communication attack, you are just asking for a Pearl Harbor 2

The dirty little secret in the USAF is that everyone knows drones are superior for fighters because of the human imposed G limit being removed, but its an organization run by former pilots and they hate the idea.

This is also why they require drone operators to be actual pilots despite the fact that there is zero need for that level of training. Its just a way to protect their idols.

Hm, that's frustrating. I wonder if that's true in all countries.

I don't think CAS stuff is well suited for drones (at least not the current stuff). You want lots of ordnance and you want the forward observer on the ground to not have to talk to someone possibly 100's of miles away right?

Also, I don't know that I buy that the drone pilot has the same local/situational awareness that a pilot sitting in an A-10/Apache does.

Why? The drone pilot has been flying around that area for much longer than the A10. He is a fully trained pilot as well, except he has fantastic cameras and doesn't really have to worry about dying. I think you are underestimating the effectiveness of remotely piloted aircraft.

You could definitely be right. Whats the latency like for drone control? Is latency low enough that fast low altitude/tight terrain flight isn't a problem?

Guess you could always turn something like a AC-130 into a drone too.

Also, isn't that one of the yet unrealized capabilities of a drone? You can have a control unit embedded with the forward observer so they can directly control the drone. Depending on their design you could have them land at the nearest FOB or directly at the line and re-arm it as desired.

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