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Successful demonstration of F-35 control of drones and progress report of new tech. Video's etc. at the link:

https://www.twz.com/air/f-35-ai-enabled ... monstrated

F-35 AI-Enabled Drone Controller Capability Successfully Demonstrated
The F-35, along with the F-22, are gaining new capabilities to help pilots control Collaborative Combat Aircraft and other drones.

Joseph Trevithick Posted 16 Hours Ago

A screen capture from the Collins Aerospace video showing the F-35’s in-cockpit display being used to issue commands to nearby drones. Collins Aerospace capture

Scenes right out of a Dale Brown story. Cool

Thanks for reminding me how old I am. High tech for aiming rockets in a Uh1B was putting a grease pencil mark on the windshield until we moved up to a fold down sight. The new tech is pure magic.

Centaur wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 25, 2025 7:58 am

Thanks for reminding me how old I am. High tech for aiming rockets in a Uh1B was putting a grease pencil mark on the windshield until we moved up to a fold down sight. The new tech is pure magic.

You're welcome. Back in 'our day' we had absolute control of the sky, so a grease pencil was all you really needed. That's all changed now. We are not the only ones pursuing "pure magic" - in the air, on the land, the sea, and in space and cyberspace.

I remember punching out little chads on card after card to do simple calculations on a "computer".

We've come a long way baby.

daytime dave wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:00 am

I remember punching out little chads on card after card to do simple calculations on a "computer".

We've come a long way baby.

Yes. Farther than what we old dogs ever thought possible. Along the lines from my opening post, here's another taste of what's in the works: The Demon Ape program.

https://www.twz.com/air/xq-67-drone-get ... pe-program

daytime dave wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:00 am

I remember punching out little chads on card after card to do simple calculations on a "computer".

We've come a long way baby.

My first programming was with paper ticker tape on a PDP-11. It was a 3 step process. Create and feed a tape with a simple bootloader followed by another tape of a more sophisticated boot loader, followed by another tape of the actual program. Punch card programming came later. Did not dare drop a stack of punch cards, when they got out of order the program on them was hosed. Got to running a marker across the top edge of the stack diagonally in case they did get dropped, could get them back in order.

When I first qualified as an Air Traffic Controller back in 1968 the newcomers would all sit at a typewriter and punch paper tapes with flight plans into the old Univac Computer. Very often someone would yell and we would look back and see the Univac on fire and all that tape on the floor that hadn't been processed.

Then we would start the tedious task of hand writing flight progress strips calculating the time each AC would pass through a sector.

When I retired in 2000 the computers had progressed to the point it was all done for you. The radars displayed flight plan, ACs position, speed. altitude, and even a line you could display showing where they would be in 5, 10, or 15 minutes. It also predicted conflicts and recommended solutions.

It was still a very complicated job, but all that made it much easier. That was almost 25 years ago. I wonder what it looks like today.

I want a drone that will fly to the store and bring me a gallon of milk for my latte.