Pentagon planning to replace flight crews with 'full-time' robots

The Pentagon has come up with a plan for dealing with shrinking budgets

The Pentagon's research agency, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has been tasked with developing breakthrough technologies for national security.

According to the Washington Times, the DARPA is currently working on technology that will be able to replace up to five crew members on military aircraft

The move will in effect making the lone human operator a 'mission supervisor'.

DARPA said the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) would offer the military a 'tailorable, drop-in, removable kit that would enable the addition of high levels of automation into existing aircraft to enable operation with reduced onboard crew'.

DARPA program manager Daniel Patt said that their goal is to design a full-time automated assistant that could be rapidly adapted to help operate diverse aircraft through an easy-to-use operator interface.

Patt added that these capabilities could help transform the role of pilot from a systems operator to a mission supervisor directing intermeshed, trusted, reliable systems at a high level, the report added.