gambit
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Already addressed. Please look them up.Nope. Here is how it should be handled:
- On "link lose" Return to Base
- If unable to RTB then find the closest safe place and Land
- If can't get to a safe place, wait until you have got fuel and then self destruct
Beyond that, there must be an independent onboard module checking the sanity of drone's decisions/actions.
That module must include an override routine similar to this:
- If a "Land" instruction has been issued and we are in hostile territory then
- Contact and get confirmation from Base
- If can't contact base then Cancel the "Land" instruction.
- If can't cancel the Land instruction, then self destruct.
- If can't "self destruct" either, then send a message to the control room: "we are screwed".
Why couldn't it RTB?
Even for some reason it can't have GPS localization at that time, it must have some secondary less accurate localization mechanism (like bearing-only SLAM) to fall back to. It just has to go back close to the base. It's much more likely to find a non-hostile territory there to land.
However, this drone somehow landed in hostile territory.
So it's designers have been super stupid and the drone lands as soon as it loses link?
So from now on, whenever Iran detects an RQ-170 it has just to Jam it and it lands neatly without making a whim! Is that what you are telling us?
If you can't believe that the designers were SO STUPID, then it must be that, Iranians had somehow overridden the default routines of the drone.
---------- Post added at 03:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:44 PM ----------
Mostly wrong. Especially the 'never' bits. The rest are just baseless assumptions no experts entertained.Stealth planes usually never emit any radio signal since it beats the purpose of being stealth. All stealth missions have to be done under strict radio silence for this obvious reason that the enemy forces can then triangulate on the signal and use it as a kind of passive radar. Besides all stealth missions are flown in night, taking off at night and coming back before dawn. Though I am not sure if this is how stealth drones operate but internet literature on F-22 and B-2 mentions this as a requirement of stealth. They only send any radio signal if there is a real emergency for example when the air craft is going to crash.