The Pentagon released its Aircraft Procurement Plan 2012-2041 (2041! Will we all be using Jetpacks then? We probably won’t even be using phones anymore – just use chips implanted in our brains). Guess what? The plan includes twice the number of drones currently in the air.
By the end of the current decade, the Air Force should have enough medium and large drones to maintain at least 65 round-the-clock “orbits,” compared to 48 today. Add UAVs from the other services, and you’re looking at 100 or so permanently on-station killer drones, watching and waiting to swoop down with precision-guided bombs and missiles.
That’s not all. Future orbits will see farther and with better fidelity than today’s do. “Vastly improved” new sensors such as the Air Force’s Gorgon Stare and new foliage-penetrating radars will mean each future drone does the same work that several ‘bots do today.
Wait. “GORGON STARE”?!
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