really you can't design a machine that handles more than 10g's?
the designers are targeting a certain g-limit assumed for the pilots, and then make the plane as light as possible.
perhaps we will see hybrids in the intermediate term : humans providing guidance to the unmanned craft (with latency and jammability) and the craft autonomously doing the low latency fighting. i'm not sure this is "worse" if all the planes are unmanned. granted any fighting is bad.
this also has big implications for design -- reliability requirements, disposability change. one way missions.
the comments re: once the virtual fight ends the humans start fighting, i don't think so. they won't be as good, else the ai version wouldn't be in service, so that would be pointless.
The jet still has to carry the weapons, engine, fuel etc. and if it was designed for 16Gs operationally, the airframe structural strength would add to the weight significantly, especially if they expected a reasonable service life.
If the plan was for smaller, miniature, one-way drones, then something like a ADM-160 MALD or AGM-154 JSOW would suffice, but it wouldn't be a fighter sized drone.
the designers are targeting a certain g-limit assumed for the pilots, and then make the plane as light as possible.
perhaps we will see hybrids in the intermediate term : humans providing guidance to the unmanned craft (with latency and jammability) and the craft autonomously doing the low latency fighting. i'm not sure this is "worse" if all the planes are unmanned. granted any fighting is bad.
this also has big implications for design -- reliability requirements, disposability change. one way missions.
the comments re: once the virtual fight ends the humans start fighting, i don't think so. they won't be as good, else the ai version wouldn't be in service, so that would be pointless.