I believe that was part of the plot of the novel “Clear and Present Danger”… not included in the movie of course… would have or would still make a damned fine mini series as written
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Yes/no. It wouldn’t be possible to code that logic as the variables are incalculable but AI can machine learn some of fighter techniques but it cannot learn the spirit of fighting. It will only go within box it has designed to and a warrior will fight along the lines and beyond even if it is illogical or fatal to do so. That can’t be programmed.
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Interesting debate – I’d argue that even if the target was inanimate/unmanned, the ace likely had to fly through flak/ground fire and/or air-to-air defences to destroy it. In that context I’d rate bomber crews even higher than fighter aces, given they were fighting at half the speed for 20 times as long in combat zones/encounters.
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It can but we will have to agree to disagree for now because computer programmers are still fairly early in the process of striving towards those sorts of algorithms.
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That was the story behind WWI Balloon Busters. Those were a fixed target just waiting for prey surrounded by AA weaponry. Frank Luke and other Balloon Busters did not have long life spans. Over friendly territory like the North Vietnamese against Firebee drones is not so bad… over an aerial no mans land of AAA and SAMs changes the equation quite a bit
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I’m fairly sure Rudel was considered an ace in WW2, mainly for destroying several hundred tanks in his Stuka Kanonvogel picking them off like fish in a barrel from way above/behind. The tanks couldn’t fight back & considered defenceless but there was usually plenty of AA around.
And then what about the night-flying biplanes of WW1 shooting down Zeppelins over London? No counter-fire at all, but flying in the dark against giant airships was hardly a walk in the park yet I don’t think those guys were ever classed as aces.
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Programming is all about rules, x =y. There will be limits placed by the manufacturer/command not to exceed x variables, the good/bad is that a human can decide to exceed those and machine cannot/should not be allowed to disregard those otherwise we will create Skynet cause machines will realize that the problem with people is people.
It’s ok to disagree, otherwise we would be machines with a uni mind and no one really wants that.
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Amen!
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Hans-Ulrich Rudel
“He is credited with destroying the battleship ‘Marat’, a destroyer, two cruisers, 518 Tanks, 150 Artillery pieces, 70 landing craft, 700 other vehicles, four armored trains, some bridges & nine enemy aircraft.”
Ground attack pilot, his main task was to destroy things on the ground.
An ace:
" A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat.[1] It is relatively certain that 2,500 German fighter pilots attained ace status, having achieved at least five aerial victories.[2]"
Nine is more than five → Rudel was an ace.
I don’t know if German aces also counted bombers, I presume they did which means that Luftwaffe pilots had more opportunities to shoot down aircraft than RAF pilots.
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In WW2 did the pilots get credit for the V1’s they tipped over into the ground?
Similar scenario to the drone question.
Either way the people who were the intended recipients of the drone would consider the pilot a hero if not the guys in the bar.
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@Uncle-Heavy, yes the Germans counted bombers as kills. The four engined US heavy bombers were considered more difficult to shoot down than a fighter, and awards such as the knights cross would be given at lower counts of “viermotor” kills than to pilot who had an identical number of single engine fighter kills.
@TopSmith, yes RAF pilots got credit for V-1 kills. But those kills were not in the same category as killing manned aircraft in flight. Killing V-1s was dangerous as the blast of the warhead could and did occasionally also kill the downing fighter. Doing the wingtip flip method required a high degree of flying skill to get in that close at the airspeed of the V-1.
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Nope! Oops,new category here.Non Belligerant a/c with munitions shot down perhaps. It’s not belligerant until it fires those rockets, or ala V-2 crashes into a building, right? How about, Warmaking auto-aircraft Ace!
Only if he did it in his best Jason Isaacs, channelling his hammy role as Zhukov in Death of Stalin!
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Yep, downed that mach .001 enemy aircraft in the middle of a vertical intercept maneuver. I deserve one of them Natural Light beers
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