- A generation of children raised on shoot-em-up computer
games are set to become the fighter aces of the future when a flat screen,
keyboard, and mouse will replace joysticks, firing buttons and the illusory
chivalry of one-on-one aerial combat.
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- The Boeing corporation is planning to edge Biggles out
of the cockpit with a remotely-controlled jet whose mission will be to
destroy enemy defences without risking the life of a single pilot.
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- Final flight tests of the US version of the £90m
prototype programme aircraft are scheduled for December. If successful,
they could be deployed over Afghanistan on seek-and-destroy missions by
next spring.
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- The experimental X45A may lack the romance of the
Spitfire
or the F16 Fighting Falcon, but it will be able to perform high-speed
manoeuvres
which the human body could not stand without losing consciousness or
suffering
fatal internal injuries.
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- The aircraft, designed at Boeing's top secret "skunk
works" in Burbank, California, has a bat wing design incorporating
the latest stealth technology. Its fuselage is made of graphite epoxy
composite
materials over an aluminium frame.
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- Because it has no need of a cockpit, ejector seat or
any other of the life-support gadgets necessary for a manned jet, it
retails
for a third as much as a conventional warplane at about £7m and is
75% cheaper to operate.
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- It costs the RAF between £2m and £3m to train
a front-line pilot, and tens of thousands of pounds annually to keep his
skills honed in practice flights and simulators. The United States spends
£700m annually simply to keep its 2000 F16 pilots in fighting
trim.
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- An entire squadron of 12 X45As can be dismantled, crated,
and flown to a combat zone inside a single C5 transport aircraft. They
can be reassembled and ready for action in a matter of hours.
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- Preliminary tests show that it is possible for a single
operator to handle four of the unmanned vehicles at a time via two
flat-screen
monitors. One displays a map of the target area, much like that of a PC
war game, and the other shows the view from the X45A's own camera and other
sensors. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been used since the 1970s
as reconnaissance drones. The real impetus to turn them from eyes in the
sky to strike weapons came from the indifferent bombing results in the
Kosovo war of 1999.
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- Terrified of the political impact of losing aircrew to
Serb anti-aircraft missiles and flak guns, the Americans insisted that
bombing missions should be conducted from 15,000ft. This reduced the
accuracy
of attacks to the tragic point where pilots could not differentiate between
enemy armoured columns and fleeing refugees. Despite Nato claims that the
Serb war machine had been seriously damaged, inspectors entering the
province
in the aftermath of the 78-day onslaught could find evidence of just 13
knocked-out tanks.
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- Even the RAF, which had trained for 30 years to carry
out low-level strikes against the now defunct Soviet menace, was forced
to adhere to the medium-level strategy. The British attitude was also
slightly
coloured by the fact that six Tornado fighter-bombers had been shot down
by Iraqi guns and missiles during the early phase of the Gulf war in 1991.
The new unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) has the potential to solve
the problem at a fraction of the cost. If successful, UCAVs would be used
to loiter over enemy-controlled territory, pinpoint missile sites and gun
emplacements, and destroy them with bombs or homing missiles.
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- Supporters of manned warplanes insist the same job can
be done using cruise missiles. To some extent, that is true. But Tomahawks
cost £750,000 apiece and are one-shot weapons. UCAVs can be retrieved
and used again.
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