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U.S. Air Forces converts F-16 fighter jets into unmanned drones

October 2, 2013

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPKOnZDR00A[/youtube]

The U.S. Air Force goes to great lengths to train their fighter pilots. But even the best simulations lack the visceral experience of a real live fire dogfight. To give their pilots the most realist experience possible, the USAF is working with Boeing to convert some of its old F-16s into pilotless drones that can actually engage in a real dogfight with their pilots.

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Electrical stimulation to the brain speeds up learning

November 28, 2011

Air Force operator receiving transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) to accelerate learning.

By running a mild electric current through the brains of pilots during lessons, Air Force researchers have cut their personnel’s learning time in half. Pilots were being taught how to identify targets using drones—the practice is increasingly important to modern warfare and one which, due to its difficulty, is holding back the deployment of drones. Caffeine and other stimulants have been tested to aid learning but none work as well as two milliamperes of direct current for 30 minutes to pilot’s brains during training sessions on video simulators.

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government, Science & Technology News

U.S. Air Force Giant Spy Blimp Could be Afghanistan’s Biggest Brain

January 19, 2011

“Blue Devil”

Come this fall, there will be a new and extremely powerful supercomputer in Afghanistan. But it won’t be in Dave Petraeus’ headquarters in Kabul or at some three-letter agency’s operations center in Kandahar. It’ll be floating 20,000 feet above the warzone, aboard a giant spy blimp that watches and listens to everything for miles around.

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