Peace has its price!

No other species on earth except man, tends to think “Hey, I can do that!” on seeing another species. How many of us agree upon this? I say this because Man has replicated most of his inventions by learning from other species. One of such inventions will be of our concern today.

Undoubtedly it was birds that first inspired man with a notion of flight. The first instance of this inspiration takes us back to Greece 428 BC. Archytas, a great philosopher, astronomer and mathematician built the first self-propelled device for flight. It was a bird shaped model with a steam jet –propulsion system. As a token of his gratitude to his inspiration he named the device, The Pigeon.
It was a miniature of-course; you didn’t think he took a ride, did you? However, his efforts have to be recognized, for it was the outset of mankind.

Archytas – Greek Philosopher & Mathematician.
A descriptive sketch of his flying device – The Pigeon

Tailing this instance, there has been a number of Human efforts to take flight which I feel is of very less importance for now. But as a tribute to the inventions and its inventor, the first successful flight was by the Wrights in 1903 (recorded a flight distance of 852 feet). They flew it on December 17, 1903 near the Kill Devil Hills, south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, U.S. On this very moment it’s my honor to thank the Wrights for their contribution to Mankind.

Since the bird’s invention in 1903 Aviation has been undergoing drastic changes on a consistent basis. These birds that were meant to carry humans were then reinforced with heavy artillery for airborne combat (23rd October, 1911- First ‘Flight in War’ was employed by the British as a test on defense; 1st November, 1911 – First ‘Airborne Artillery deployed’ by Italy over Turkey in the Libyan war of Italy aka Tripolitania war of Turkey). Again, this is just for the record. This writing of mine is of very less concern with the past.

Drones are the burning talk of today’s aviation. Though there are numerous drones on the run, the one that will be the concern of today is the X-47B designed by the U.S Navy as a stealth drone. The X-47B is very similar to its ancestral drones in all the high-tech features it holds. So, what is it that makes the X-47B superior of its kind? The drone has been given a mind of its own. Yes, Artificial Intelligence. All previous unmanned drones were controlled by wireless connections; imagine you playing a video game, except everything are insanely real! real danger, real drone and real money; and if you lose a game, you get to talk to the government!

X-47B Drone

‘For every bird would remember its first flight and rejoice it forever, this bird’s first flight would have been cherished by every American soul!’ In Sept 2011, the X-47B first flew in cruise mode (Aviation terminology for having retracted its landing gear). With a few more tests the X-47B would make its way into full-fledged air combat as the first fully-autonomous combat drone by the mid of 2014.

To this day, a successful manned flight at 2.9 Mach speed has been achieved. However, the problem is that the Human species wasn’t meant to fly, at least not as perfect as the Peregrine Falcon (fastest bird on flight, clocked at 110 kph or the Bar-headed geese (bird with flight record for height, reaching nearly 21,000 feet). I mean we are all aware of “Top Gun” the famous aviation movie of all-time; who knows when a person’s stress would crack him open? And for the love of Mary, who knows if your wing-man was something like Maverick?
The U.S navy plans to use an X-47B replacing every wingman. Now, this wingman here doesn’t know the meaning of “leaving his lead high and dry” (Here, Lead refers to the leading aircraft). The lead aircraft will be manned because you can’t always send a drone to do a pilots job! This would be a tremendous idea if succeeded. Just imagine what a human-drone paired air combat would be, no way you’re getting outta their sight!

Aircraft hanger: USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75)

The Bird being autonomous and all seems to be the talk of the world at this stage. Many fear the risk of ‘Arming the Artificial Intelligence’. Thanks to Hollywood, people have foreseen the future of AI. .lol.

I have no doubt that the U.S as a peacekeeper of the world would use this marvelous design of Man’s and those to come in future only to safe guard peace all-round the world! For all we know this drone could save lives for that matter. The Great Archytas names his flying device “The Pigeon”, a symbol of peace. And here we are naming our drones “Hawk, Sniffer, Falco, Demon, Phoenix and so on.” This depicts the state of the world we’re in! The Great philosopher knew what flying meant for a Human! Peace! Freedom! 

"But, that was his world!

This is ours.

You have to fight for your needs!

Even if that need is Peace!"

Peace Costs!

Art by Abbas Derissi