So the bomber of Theseus?
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I’d be curious, as a thought experiment, about how effective a Sopwith Camel would actually be if it were given the same sort of treatment that B-52s have been given(ie. no fundamental overhauls of the sort that would make you call it a new plane; but lots of upgrades to various systems, new avionics and sensor systems; and conversion to be able to deliver air-launched cruise missiles and glide bombs for situations where risking enemy air defense is a terrible plan).
A little biplane puttering around under 19,000 feet, at just a hair over 100mph, with a couple of vickers guns would be unlikely to amount to much; but it wouldn’t surprise me if you could give someone a nasty surprise(though possibly not more than once) if you managed to tack a modern air-to-air missile or guided bomb onto an aircraft sufficiently small and wooden that it’s radar signature is not in line with modern expectations.
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Well, apparently the US special forces made use of horses in the early days of the war in Afghanistan so I guess you never know when old warfare technologies are going to be relevant again.
Selçuk Bayraktar has entered the chat …
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Honestly, I can’t really imagine a scenario where modern systems wouldn’t be more useful, be they a drone, an AH-6 or an A-10.
That said, someone clearly thinks small, slow prop planes still have a role on the modern battlefield
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I guess that, “If it can drop a nuke, it can drop other stuff”; so the important bits are the long range, loiter time and stealth.
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I saw a guy commuting in the Sleepy Hollow area of NY in a Model T several times, I finally (being a professional journalist at the time) just followed him home one day, and asked him a few questions. Turns out he had another car, but liked the Model T and drove it on nice days, and his great-grandfather had gotten a specially-written contract that specified the ford dealership would do all maintenance “for the life of the car.” Every month or so, he’d drop it off, and they’d lube it up, change the fluids, polish it up, and put it on display for a few days until he came by to pick it up again. That was back in the late 80s, he’d be long retired by now, but I wonder if his grandkids are still taking it to the dealer every month.
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The Hate Shack is strong with this one. 
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I noticed something odd in the first pic in the article, so went to the linked site and grabbed the hi-res. Is it towing something???
Really weird.
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Something something “the latest fly-by-wire technology,” maybe?
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lightning rod? I mean, its military and full of electronic systems which are essential to fly that thing.
e/ a possible lightning rod is not that far-fetched, if you read this;
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Maybe that’s how they control it in unmanned mode.
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Neat! Thanks for the research.
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Blah, blah, fucking blah. Why do we even have one of these damned things?!? Who are we supposed to be fighting that we would need this paean to wasted resources? I’m so sick of this.
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Nobody can replace the B-52s! (Oh, THOSE B-52s? Sorry. As you were.)
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Probably it comes from Planet Claire.
Ah, no, wrong number.
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