Has the last fighter pilot already been born?

[Henning]

It exists as a possibility. I hope that possibility is very very very small, as there are a lot of folks who will not ever be coming home if it happens. And yes, the irony of this statement given the topic at hand is not lost on me. In an ideal world where the UAV can do everything I can in a 20 year old Hornet, the UAV would absolutely be what we need to be spending money on. A guy I once flew with is currently working as a test pilot on one of our shipboard UAV programs.......he has a lot of good things to say about it. It isn't wasted money or time IMHO, but it has a long way to go until it equates to a division of APG-79 Super Hornets, or Block 60 Vipers or APG-63 v(2)/v(3) Eagles or Raptors, with all the other latest combat systems and a pair of human eyes and ears to make use of it all.

The next at that type will be against the Chinese and we cannot win against them as they have the numbers and will we cannot match. Our only chance to win against them is with autonomous drones built cheap and in high numbers, otherwise none of us or them will survive as we both have enough deliverable nukes to guarantee full and immediate attrition the moment the first is released, and it is we who will have to release it as the Chinese hold the advantage going in.

The question is, how will the global water wars be fought in 20 years? WWI & II were fought for energy, the Cold War was fought for access to markets to grow consumerism, the Water Wars will be fought for survival.

 

[Velocity173]

Water Wars? Should I call Jim Bakker and buy 10 yrs of freeze dried food, water and a solar powered generator?

We would never go to war with China. We both know that we need each others import / exports for survival. There are plenty of other countries though that have fighter aircraft that we don't need for our economy. Although I'm sure our current fourth generation fighters can handle what's thrown at them, I like knowing we have F-22s on tap to stay one step ahead of them.

 

[ClimbnSink]

Hennings point about overwhelming an equal opponent with junk is correct. More junk will win over a few super fighters. And if it is unmanned junk so the much the better.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

The next at that type will be against the Chinese and we cannot win against them as they have the numbers and will we cannot match. Our only chance to win against them is with autonomous drones built cheap and in high numbers, otherwise none of us or them will survive as we both have enough deliverable nukes to guarantee full and immediate attrition the moment the first is released, and it is we who will have to release it as the Chinese hold the advantage going in.

We'll never make it that far. The Chinese own us. UAV's may be "cheap" but they're not free. Who will we borrow the money from to pay for them?