Fighter Pilots could control swarms of drones

See the article below before reading my comments:

As well as a the safety implications what about security. I'd image they'd use 128 mb encryption on the controlling transmissions so enemy pilots couldn't tap in easily. However, what about tempering with the orders computer system by saboteurs at a base etc, these swarms could quickly turn into a nightmare rather than an ally.

Despite this. Pretty damn cool technology.

Article:

Fighter pilots could command drone 'swarms'

By Will Knight

Jet fighter pilots could command a whole swarm of planes from the air, using a system developed by a British aerospace company.

QinetiQ - formerly the UK government's Defence Evaluation and Research Agency - has developed technology that would allow a pilot to control up to five aircraft during a mission, without needing to constantly keep a check on them.
So far, the system has been demonstrated as part of a new simulator developed by QinetiQ, modelled on the Eurofighter. The system allows a pilot to program a group of up to five unmanned planes to perform a simple task, like searching an area for enemy vehicles.

The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) under the pilot's control use software "agents" to carry out their mission. These agents are given a goal - to find enemy targets, for example - and can independently deal with the various variables involved.

Stealthy bombers

"The UAVs have to be intelligent enough to do the right things without having to refer to a human operator," says Jon Platts, technical manager for autonomous air vehicles at QinetiQ.

In the case of a search and destroy mission the UAVs would locate a potential target and send an image of it back to the pilot, who could give the command to attack it or continue the search. But a pilot could also override the UAVs autonomous behaviour and even control individual planes by hand if necessary.

If the link between the UAVs and the fighter should fail, they must also be able to continue their mission independently or return to base.

"From micro spies to stealthy bombers, UAVs are making the vision of unmanned aircraft a reality," says Peter Birkett, managing director of the spin off company that developed the simulator, called cueSim.

Birkett says the simulator "brings to life a future combat environment where a fast jet is controlling a whole package of UAVs, thereby delivering greater firepower and reconnaissance capability".

The simulator connects two cockpits over a network, allowing two pilots to fly in tandem. The system in fact uses some off-the-shelf software technology more commonly found in computer games.

Platt is confident the technology can be easily transferred from simulator to real life. He says the technology could be implemented in real fighter planes within the next 10 years, but the main obstacle would be to rigorously demonstrate its safety to regulators.

EOF

[edit on 28-7-2004 by mrsteve]

I don't think its a good idea the pilot should focuz on A2A engagements not looking after UAV that is why i think its much better idea to have the UAV controlled from the ground instead of giving the pilot a million things to
do.

[edit on 28-7-2004 by WestPoint23]

this is sounding more and more like a dale brown book than real life.
actually if it was a large bomber like a B2 then u could have the pilot fly the original plane while the crew then fly the other UAV's and UCAV's.

Originally posted by devilwasp
this is sounding more and more like a dale brown book than real life.
actually if it was a large bomber like a B2 then u could have the pilot fly the original plane while the crew then fly the other UAV's and UCAV's.

I like that idea you could have bombers like the b-52 have their own escorts controled by other people in the plane. This way you wouldnt be putting a bigger load on the pilot himself. I also think maybe having two drones flying point for a fighter could be very handy they could be used to increase the range of the fighters radar if they had thier own. Also they could offer a whole other dimension to A2A combat if they were armed. I wouldnot be surprize if the F-22 had some systems built into it for just this type of thing

yeah thats in dale browns book's very interesting stuff
especially the ground team with rail guns mmmmmmm rail guns

yeah the gryf has a system which links the 2 fighters radar so only one needs to be on, so if they used that the enemy could think it was just a lone UAV and then it would get waxed by 2 "invisble" fighters.

cool I didnt even think about not having to use the radar of the fighter and just use the UCAVs one thats very sneaky I like. What was the name of that book Devilwasp it seems like a good read.

[edit on 28-7-2004 by ShadowXIX]

umm well there's dreamland for a starter,but that aint so much about tactics as tech, theres air battle force which gives u some tactics but the gryf bit i got from weapons of tomorrow.

The radar thing the raptor can link up with other raptors in the area to exchange info or form a sort of line or bubble with their radars by linking them up but I like the idea of a fighter having little escorts flying up ahead of it clearing the way



[edit on 28-7-2004 by WestPoint23]

Heres a interesting drawing that shows what we are talking about. Insert your picture of new fighter in the middle be it F-22 in the middle and add two nice UCAVs around it. I wish I was good at photo shop I would paste two pegasus UCAVs around a F-22 just to see what it looks like.

Dale Brown's B-52 on steroids, flying around with 4 drones, with an AWACs radar, is an idea I love.

Flying Battleship

Like Westpoint said pilots have enough to worry about. I wouldn't make pilots worry about controlling UAVs until A.I.s are capable of managing them selves in actual combat.

Originally posted by cyberdude78
Like Westpoint said pilots have enough to worry about. I wouldn't make pilots worry about controlling UAVs until A.I.s are capable of managing them selves in actual combat.

Pilots pilot airplane...the rest of the 5 man crew pilots the UAVs and other systems.

Which is why this idea is more viable for bombers, they need escorts anyway.

[edit on 28-7-2004 by Kozzy]

I love the bomber idea and that should be where we see type of thing first ,but I think fighter jets could find UCAVS very helpful ones that are controled from the ground .Atleast until they have some good AI for them

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
I love the bomber idea and that should be where we see type of thing first ,but I think fighter jets could find UCAVS very helpful ones that are controled from the ground .Atleast until they have some good AI for them

I think the load on a pilot would be too great to controll UCAV's and fly at the same time. However, add a backseater to the mix and you have a potent little strike force.

The human mind can only concentrate on a couple things before performance on one task falters. Pilots can concentrate on their plane and the enemy target(s). There would have to be AIs or another pilot to fly the drones.

Yeah these UAV should stick to bomber cuz bombers have the extra man power to control the UAV�s also im getting this idea of a modified B-52 in which the bomb bay opens and these UAV's come out ant then after the fighting they return inside the Bombay until they are needed against what do you think? IMHO it could be done in the future. Or is my imagination running wild again

[edit on 29-7-2004 by WestPoint23]

Originally posted by WestPoint23
which the bomb bay opens and these UAV's come out ant then after the fighting they return inside the Bombay until they are needed against what do you think? IMHO it could be done in the future.

They tried that with manned fighters and B-36. Operation TomTOm it was called. It was not very successfull. However, independantly launched UCAV's controlled by a B-52 would work. I still like the idea of having a back seater controll 2 Ucavs. One could be out front and serve as a picket, the otehr could be used for AA or SEAD...

Well I think it would be cool to see some AIs running the UAVs. But the bomber concept looks fairly cool. That would look pretty scary if your on the recieving end. Anybody played Command & Conquer: Generals. In that UAVs are controlled by vehicles. Its very cool.

The F-18 is very powerful.
Maybe the plane to control other planes would be an F-18