US Navy on it's way to an unmanned carrier fighter

[gnu2308]

Originally Posted by plwhit

And if there is a war where the military installations that control these unmanned fighter/bombers are taken out what do we do then with no battle groups?

A combo of both unmanned and a few battle groups makes the most sense.

Thats the beauty of the unmanned drones. They can probably have the control centers in the back of a truck. We couldn't find all the scud missiles in Iraq even with all our technology... good luck to our enemies finding a 15 ft truck in the US.

[NJGOAT]

Originally Posted by plwhit

And if there is a war where the military installations that control these unmanned fighter/bombers are taken out what do we do then with no battle groups?

A combo of both unmanned and a few battle groups makes the most sense.

I would think outside of a nuclear attack (that would pretty much equal game over for everyone) it would be incedibly difficult for an enemy to attack the command and control centers in the U.S. (think NORAD bunkers), especially as they could easily be made redundent.

Still, I think the idea of a balanced approach is better. You could still perhaps halve the number of battlegroups, maintain the same presence and still have redundency.

[plwhit]

I know, off-topic, thinking out loud.....

The militarization of space has been going on for at least the last 15 years, how much longer before we won't need drones, battle fleets, ballistic missile subs and stealth bombers?????

How many Americans know the Air Force Space Command even exists?

Air Force Space Command - Home

I forget which show I was watching but it was about the old USSR's space vehicles and was surprised to see they had a space vehicle way past the design stage that carried weapons.... We be talking 1980's here.....

[NJGOAT]

I think it is only a matter of time (within the next 20 years perhaps?) that space is militarized with actual space-to-ground strike capabilities. The only thing currently banned by treaty is the installation of WMD's in space.

I think we are seeing the first steps towards this with the drone aircraft that are being designed to fly at the edge of the atmosphere and remain aloft for extended periods of time. It would be easy enough to install anti-satellite and guided munitions onto these planes. These planes could also be outfitted to provide redundant systems that are currently run by satellite such as communications and GPS.

I think the one thing that hurts satellite systems is the relative ease with which they can be destroyed. China has the capability to do it with ground launched missiles and the U.S. has already twice demonstrated the capability from aircraft launched missiles (two satellites have been destroyed by the U.S. with weapons fired from F-15's).

[gnu2308]

Anyone know if the US has unmanned Submarines? Wouldn't it make sense to be able to park an unmanned Sub off the coast of an enemy and just let it sit on the bottom of the ocean... when needed they can activate it and hit the targets before the enemy knew what hit them.

[plwhit]

Many nations have unmanned subs....

Let me google that for you

The USSR did what you ask, the only difference is they didn't park them off the enemy's coast.

Typhoon class submarine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Bulldogdad]

I am really starting to think that whole Clinton Chinese espionage thing if the 90's was a red herring Clinton tossed at them. What better way to put your competition behind by decades then but letting them think they stole or bought technology that would let them catch up. Just a thought.