"True autonomy is going to require the answering of plenty of technical and ethical questions."
Precisely my point. Thanks. We all know flight autonomy is already here. Has been for ages.
The aerial refuelling is a neat trick which I'm not convinced will be able to be taken for granted yet -- I can see this won't become fully autonomous for a while. That procedure would have to be completely predictable and reliable -- at least as reliable as a human-managed manoeuvre and that isn't without risk.
Just pointing out that 'autonomy' can mean different things depending on your point of view. The kind of autonomy that has already been achieved coupled to a reasonably safe ability to operate in congested air space will mean that regular autonomous cargo flights will become possible.
As for aerial refuelling, I think autonomous probe & drogue refuelling is definitely feasible. They've already proven the ability of the X-47B's flight systems to maintain the refuelling position behind a 707, which is technically one of the harder things to get right.
One of the reasons aerial refuelling is so tricky is that it requires constant rapid adjustments by the pilot in the receiving aircraft to stay in position while receiving fuel. The X-47B should be able to process those adjustments much faster than a human pilot.
Precisely my point. Thanks. We all know flight autonomy is already here. Has been for ages.
The aerial refuelling is a neat trick which I'm not convinced will be able to be taken for granted yet -- I can see this won't become fully autonomous for a while. That procedure would have to be completely predictable and reliable -- at least as reliable as a human-managed manoeuvre and that isn't without risk.