Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: Astro14
There is no drone that can go air to air. They are all built for air to ground. And all except a few are slow, non-stealthy, cheap airplanes. Add range, speed, payload, and they become very expensive to build...you're building a manned airplane without the man, so you don't save much...
What about a cruise missile type drone with an air to air missile or two on it? Then send the missile itself.
It seems the Russians and Indians are already developing these with a reusable version of their BrahMos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrahMos It does Mach 3 and they are working on a dedicated air strike scram jet version that does Mach 7...
I would really hope the Air Force is spending 2 or 3 F35's a year to integrate the basic tech for something similar.
It's a cruise missile. It hits land targets. It doesn't target or threaten airplanes.
There isn't a drone that is a threat to airplanes.
Can you hang a missile on a drone? Sure.
How do you target another airplane with it? How do you cue it? Guide it? Drones don't have air to air radar. Drones don't have the speed to control an intercept.
Unless, as I said, you build a big, fast, heavy, expensive drone...that does all the things that a fighter does...and even then, how do you control it? How do you get the data, including radar, FLIR, and 360 visual, back to the person controlling it? How do you get the visual data into a computer to take the fight to another airplane?
You can't use a drone to defend your country from an air threat. SAMs do a good job, with limited coverage. But drones? Nope...