Saturday, September 28, 2013

Military News: QF16 , the $15+mil target


Recently the US Air-force (USAF) announced the flight of its first QF16. They had recently given Boeing a contract ($70mil) to convert its aging fleet of F16 trainers into QF16 target drones. At the average cost of $15mil a pop at construction, these trainers are not cheap targets, however the USAF figures it will be a bargain since the Aircraft are available (First QF16 to take flight had been mothballed for 15 years). So there is no build cost, just the contract and conversion costs.



After the announcement there are two questions that quickly come to mind. 
One: Is it worth spending so much money on these one shot targets? Surely at our level of technology and logistical pull we could create and field low cost, high speed/mobility drones.
Two: Would it be feasible, and probably more cost effective, to convert these Trainers into Attack Drones rather than Targets?
Three: With the US contracts to foreign Nations, would they not be able to sell these surplus aircraft for pure gain?

Additional Resources:
Wired: QF16 Article
Boeing: QF16
BBC: QF16

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