Future Fighters Won't Need Ejection Seats

Posted by timothy on Tuesday February 26, 2013 @03:05AM from the top-gun-will-just-be-the-uppermost-gun dept.

Dr. Tom writes "The U.S. has deployed more than 11,000 military drones, up from fewer than 200 in 2002. They carry out a wide variety of missions while saving money and American lives. Within a generation they could replace most manned military aircraft, says John Pike, a defense expert at the think tank GlobalSecurity.org. Pike suspects that the F-35 Lightning II, now under development by Lockheed Martin, might be 'the last fighter with an ejector seat, and might get converted into a drone itself.' The weakest link is the pilot. A jet could pull 15 Gs, out-turning any conventional aircraft, except it would kill the pilot. Is it time to stop spending billions on obsolete aircraft?"

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Re:Hope no one hacks our entire Air Force one day by noh8rz10 · 2013-02-26 03:08 · Score: 5, Funny

I would install gps controls so it could never attack anything in the US. Then we'd be safe.
What's the rush? by ReallyEvilCanine · 2013-02-26 03:09 · Score: 5, Funny

Install ejection seats on the remote pilots' chairs would certainly serve as a strong deterrent to unsafe manoeuvres as well as providing a means for a broad range of disciplinary actions.