Empty F-16 jet tested by Boeing and US Air Force

There is nothing new here, at all.

The USAF has been turning retired planes into unmanned drones for literally decades.

"Boeing has revealed" Why don't I reveal that the sky is blue, will that get me in the news?

Idiot press.

9/11

It actually doesn't say it will be used as a drone at all. It is the first time a F-16 has used this technology and it will be used to train fighter pilots to fight.
Someone with an agenda called it a drone.

True, the idea is not new. The USAF was doing this when they were still part of the USAAF , but it is still neat to see and given that they are so much more advanced not only are we more able to hunt the bad guys, but also patrol shores to save lives in air rescue roles.

I could see Israel using this for a potential bombing run on Iran's nuclear facilities. Instead of using actual pilots, they use these drone F-16s to bomb the reactors and then destroy the aircraft soon after. The biggest issue to bombing Iran is the sheer distance between the two countries.

USAF must have burnt through their inventory of QF-4's I'm pretty sure that's what they used before

Uh, no. It's an unmanned aircraft which these days is commonly called a . No agenda there at all. It's like calling a cell phone a cell phone even if it's an iPhone. It is what it is.

Cheaper to just use a cruise missile for a one-way mission.

Uh, no. It's an unmanned aircraft which these days is commonly called a . No agenda there at all. It's like calling a cell phone a cell phone even if it's an iPhone. It is what it is.
The story never mentioned it being a "drone". That statement came from the agenda pushing fringer at the end of it. It is also not the first fighter aircraft that has been converted for remote flying. Clearly these people have no clue the capabilities this aircraft possesses vs. other current military inventory better suited for the roll of a "drone" in the current Obama definition. The F-16 is one of the best, if not the best single engine dog fighter in the world. It is also ill-suited for ground attack compared to many other aircraft and missile systems in use today.


Do you not see the irony in this statement? Even if Obama himself was learning to fly this thing it is still a pretty funny statement........not to mention the campaign name.
However, a spokesman for the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots warned of the temptation to use them in warfare.

"I'm very concerned these could be used to target people on the ground," said Prof Noel Sharkey

The USAF has been doing this since Pontius was a pilot.

I seem to recall an anti-satellite weapon that was tested on F-16s that had them flying up to the edge of space and launching a rocket. They were, effectively, the guided "booster" stage. Maybe, these can be used as part of an anti-missile defence system of some sort.

Cheaper to just use a cruise missile for a one-way mission.

True, but...hm. Other than maybe painting the F-16 in Saudi/Pakistani colors or something to take some blame off of them, I don't really see the point of this then.

True, but...hm. Other than maybe painting the F-16 in Saudi/Pakistani colors or something to take some blame off of them, I don't really see the point of this then.

I do. If they've got the lag problem resolved then they can operate the fighter absent its weakest component: a pilot who can't manage more than 9G's in a manoeuver.

Also, where the F-16 is starting to embrace the envelope of obsolescence it makes logical sense to repurpose the planes to get every last drop of value out of them before they're scrapped. The USAF did the same with many other aircraft and it makes fiscal sense to do the same with the F-16.

Besides, if you take out the pilot, the ejection seat, and the life support systems them you can add in another 1500 to 2000 pounds of payload or fuel and you've got something that has more capabilities than did the original.

Not in this case. The F-16 wing isn't big enough to have more stores and hard points. Also it's all nice and easy to talk about adding but it burns that much more fuel when you start adding enormous amounts of drag. It's just simple mathematics at that point. The F-16 is a short range dog fighter as compared to the F-15 which is a long range fighter. A similar comparison would be a Spitfire to a P-51. The other thing that would need to be added, along with it's weight is ground cameras and sensors so Obama can kill US citizens. As it stands the only cameras onboard are low level cockpit views looking out through the canopy.

They're still building and selling F-16s so we know they'll be around for another 20-30 years.