Thread: Super-sized Global Hawk revealed

Originally Posted by PubFather

I have a feeling that it might be the converse... If stealth continues to dominate and to spread more widely (as seems inevitable) then the vast range of the proposed new BVR missiles surely becomes a moot point, except against legacy fighters.

You will see a vast improvement in IRST/EOTS type systems - but enough to accurately track and engage at 100km + distances?

Perhaps the future will be messy WVR knife-fights - in which (given the abilities of the current crop of WVR missiles like IRIS-T and Sidewinder X) you might get the first shot off - but not prevent them firing back and killing you as well....

Just a thought!

Yeah I hadn't considered that but until two sides with stealth planes square off we'll just have to see. And sooner or later, someone will come up with a counter for stealth. Ironically, it's probably going to be the USAF.

Originally Posted by -{SpoonmaN}-

Yeah I hadn't considered that but until two sides with stealth planes square off we'll just have to see. And sooner or later, someone will come up with a counter for stealth. Ironically, it's probably going to be the USAF.

A fairly common theme in military SF/Space Opera is that at some points all advanced technologies cancel each other out and the "old fashioned ways" become prevalent again.

-dale

Originally Posted by Expat Canuck

Is it just me or would a society that could completly detatch themselves from war seem a bad thing? To be able to kick some ass at no risk to yourself is utterly sick.

but how long until others pick up on the same stuff???

Originally Posted by Captain Drunk

If a remotely piloted UAV's pilot shoots down an enemy fighter pilot overseas, that makes him a sexy killer, hes the one who can't be killed back home at base

Yea sure.......... Go look at some UCAV's they are ugly as hell.

It aint a f*kin beauty contest...

Originally Posted by dalem

A fairly common theme in military SF/Space Opera is that at some points all advanced technologies cancel each other out and the "old fashioned ways" become prevalent again.

-dale

Oops betraying what I read in my spare time again...

Originally Posted by Expat Canuck

Is it just me or would a society that could completly detatch themselves from war seem a bad thing?

War itself is the Bad Thing, and trying to find an 'honourable' or 'fair' way of fighting it seems an Even Worse Thing.

To be able to kick some ass at no risk to yourself is utterly sick.

On the contrary, it's common sense.

What, should the terrorists who chop people's heads off be given a 'fair chance'? To destroy bastards may be a moral or utile duty - one moment they're there, a 2,000lb JDAM later, they're not, and people undoubtedly breathe freer now that Nazism, for example, is dead. To find glory in the retaliation, however - beyond the jokey such as "Which is the most beautiful fighter" - is the real 'utterly sick' thing.

Call me stupid, but I'd rather fight a war primarily to win and secondarily to do so with the minimum of damage to life and property on all sides, not to give the opponent a fair chance - otherwise you're talking of war as some sort of sport.

Originally Posted by dalem

A fairly common theme in military SF/Space Opera is that at some points all advanced technologies cancel each other out and the "old fashioned ways" become prevalent again.

-dale

I've thought about the notion of stealth on stealth bringing back the dogfight, but everyone has responded with the 'wait and see' answer, so thats what I'm going with. And I know what you're on about, I was just playing a Star Wars game where it's just as effective to fight your oponents with a sword (not a lightsaber, a sword) as it is to fight them with a directed energy weapon.

Current gen/next few gen UAV's have no way to be stealthy; having to transmitt back to ground sort of kills any reason to attempt to be stealthy even with a fairly narrow beam on both ends. When it comes to beating stealth equipment theres allready a few very possible ways to do it though none are particularly practicle over large areas. Having a bunch of linked short wavelength high power radars overcomes both RAM and geometry based stealth though it does cause some issues with general radar reception and clutter. The cost of deploying all those radars for coverage is a bit prohibitive as is linking them for communications to provide a complete picture. Lookdown realtime imaging or IR (nessacry for cloud cover) from satalite also provides for interception and early warning though isn't really helpful for muntion guidance against the stealth plane, while most current stealth planes do have heat buffering it still isn't enough to stop a IR missle launched at ranges guidable with the imaging. Currently there are not enough goesync imaging sats up with the downsteam bandwidth to do this world wide but is definately theater capable especially if we loiter Datalink Globalhawks and Dragonladies. Putting up enough planes flying cap with heat seeking missles on them provides fairly effective cover as well especially since their RWR provides a nice defence/warning system if the stealth planes decide to attack them. Link a bunch of receivers a few blanket transmitters and playing spot the hole once again gives you a decent enough picture to guide an AA barrage and or fighters into visual range for IR launch.

Its important to remember there is no such thing as stealth currently just low observability.

Originally Posted by M21Sniper

Terminator, Battlestar Galactica, matrix, war games, a million other sci-fi tales of warning. Viruses, Hackers, Trojans, or any of a myriad of other security related reasons.

Probably not a good idea to go putting all our best pilots out of work either.

Two other reasons

1. A computer does exactly what you program it to do, a pilot can use his/her judgement to adapt the mission based what he/she expiriences.

2. The pilot cannot be jammed and/ or have his mission reprogrammed by the enemy.