The aircraft flew up to speeds of 1,200mph. DARPA did not reveal which aircraft won the dogfight.

  • GBU_28@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    22
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    Huh? Jets are far more replaceable than a human operator who takes years of training and has “needs”.

    Ya know unless your military is running on cold war fumes or something and you can’t afford to build an airframe you already have in production

    • diffusive@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      2 months ago

      Training a combat pilot used to cost (in early 2000, not sure now) 10M€ for a NATO member.

      Find me a modern jet that costs so little. Regardless of what politicians say, human life has a price… and it is waaaay below a jet (even including the training)

      • grue@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        15
        ·
        2 months ago

        Yeah, but procurement of a combat pilot has about a two-decade lead time. You can build more jets a lot quicker (potentially even including the R&D phase).

        • intensely_human@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          2 months ago

          Also as this war expands to become planet-wide, industrial output of drones will expand many orders of magnitude.

      • GBU_28@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        It’s not just money. It’s time, public perception, quantity trainers, quantity student seats etc

        A drone is ready the moment it comes off the assembly line, is flashed with software, and tested.