Look closely at the empty cockpit.
(Credit: US Air Force photo by Master Sergeant J. Scott Wilcox)
Google may have a driverless car, but Boeing has a pilotless F-16 fighter jet. As a matter of fact, it has six of them.
Renamed the QF-16, the retired fighter jets were refurbished and turned into empty-seated drones to act as flying targets for US Air Force training exercises.
A test flight of one of the aircraft took place at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida last week. The flight involved an auto-take-off and auto-landing and an array of aerial maneuvers — including a barrel roll while pulling 7 G’s — as the QF-16 soared to 40,000 feet and Mach 1.47. The plane was controlled by two Air Force test pilots on the ground.
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