In other words, a bunch of police departments with extra asset forfeiture money are about to get new toys to play army with.

I think we all know the correct answer to the weight problem. Powered exoskeleton armor

The real issues here are two fold:

China isn’t as well off as we are. I never said that, nor made any indication that’s where I was leaning.

Actually, outside of high-profile individuals, we are usually targeting equipment. The intent of war is to reduce your opponent’s capabilities to such a level below yours that they are forced to capitulate or be destroyed. That means knocking out technological capability comes first. Low-level personnel are often…

This is complete nonsense.

Take the F-35B the Marines use and remove the lift fan. Keep the shaft from the engine, but use it to spin a generator. Use that generator for a laser, ECM, particle beam or microwave weapon.

Or, because we have adversaries now who can close the technological superiority gap much more quickly than before.

I remember reading somewhere that the Soviet Buran reuseable shuttle’s OS was written in PROLOG. On the first (and only) flight, which was unmanned - it came in for landing, detected gusts over the runway, powered off and circled back - all by itself.

Just like the F-22 funds were cut to fund F-35? And in the end, because of people with no patience or vision we will never again have a 40 year program like F-16.

The f-35 program funds will be cut in order to fund the 6th gen nonsense

Actually the tooling may well not exist. I can’t say for certain regarding the F-22, but it’s not uncommon for tooling to be destroyed once an aircraft’s production run has ceased.

It is an autonomous vehicle and has many many operators that are in constant contact with it and can take control of it anytime if required. It has multiple mission plans loaded and can only do what it is programmed to do. It CANNOT go rogue and start doing things like you see in the movies. I wish people had some…

They wouldn’t be. They don’t carry any payload. No weapons or sensors. It was a technology demonstrator to figure out how land, take off, and operate on the deck of an aircraft carrier. The demonstrator worked and they are already working on a follow-on.

Look forward to it. Scary how China went from basically upgraded MiG-17’s in the 80’s and 90’t to SU-27 Flanker clones, J-15’s, and “semi”-stealth aircraft.

Can’t really argue with that. But don’t forget the ever growing deficit (again thanks to Congress) while China set’s back and waits for us to spend ourselves into a hole from which we can’t climb out (remember how the cold war was “won”)?

During the mission, which is the capstone to a series of refueling tests this week, the X-47B took off, flew out to the tanker, formed up with it, engaged the basket, and then sucked 4,000 pounds of fuel from it before heading back home to Naval Air Station Patuxent River for an autonomous landing.

Thanks so much for the kind words! I truly love what I do!

Wow, another great article Tyler. Your work is some of the very best on Jalopnik. Interesting topics, clearly written. Much admiration for your research and writing.

I believe this is it