U.S. Fighter Piloted Using a Mouse

Generally, to fly the latest hi-tech military aircraft, the pilot must have the ability and specialized knowledge of high order to maximize the ability of fighter that he was riding.

Later, unmanned systems have been freed from the obligation to drive the aircraft pilot and dangerous combat mission while the pilot with a certain ability should still be at the helm, though from a distance.

But it will soon be over. System of experimental aircraft that is being developed with the U.S. Navy Northrop Grumman X-47b which will not be steered by pilots from a distance. He was flown almost entirely automatically.

Human involvement is no longer using the remote cockpit, just only click on the mouse.

"X-47b will be piloted by humans in the cockpit is not long distance, but by 3.4 million lines of program code," said Janis Pamiljans, Northrop vice president who handles technology Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration, as quoted by Wired, April 13, 2011.

Pamiljans mentioned, other functions can be handled by personnel who are not pilots because they only need to click the mouse once to start the engine, one click to boost the plane, one click to take off, and others.

However, according to Jaime Engdahl, a naval aviator pilot captain stated, there is one thing that needs to be studied further the plane landed on the aircraft carrier that was sailing in the sea. "The landing is very special and very specific. For that automatic aspects of this aircraft must be adapted to every condition," he said.

Another thing that also needs to be tested in depth is about weapons. For information, the aircraft is capable of carrying a weapon with a weight of up to 2.25 tons. In fact, according to Engdahl, the aircraft using the autopilot for 100 percent of the duration of the flight.