An Cosantóir

77 FLIGHT PLAN TO THE FUTURE components for drones, reduced maintenance re- quirements, and crew minimisation, the sky really is the limit for the potential for the Air Corps to get the best drones on the market. These drones still need human interaction to fly and currently within the DF, the vast majority of drone operators are Artillery, Engineers, and Naval personnel but with an up take of drones the Air Corps will surely become the lead on these numbers. Irish Air Corps pilots will not become redundant, as hybrid flight operations are inevitable, where aviators will still be forward in the fight, able to exercise real-time com - mand-and-control of uninhabited combat aircraft via secure communications links. Commanders accomplish missions. Robots perform tasks at the direction of human combatants. However, it should be noted that Artificial Intelligence has evolved to the point where in August 2020 the US based Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, staged a dogfight between an experi- enced Air Force F-16 pilot, and an AI machine — and the machine won 5-0. As versatile as drones are, they do, at the mo- ment, lack the ability to transport troops. With the recent events of the Kabul airlift and Moroccan repatriation flight of December 2021 still fresh in our history, it would be difficult to see another situation like these taking place without tough questions being asked about the necessity of strategic airlift capabilities, so the expansion of No 1 Ops Wing capacity is predicted. Troop carry- ing considerations will also be a factor in future peacekeeping deployments. More Air Corps personnel are serving overseas, so a natural pro- gression would be for an Irish aircraft to be situ- ated in an Irish area of responsibility. This move would be beneficial, for example, of the current 12 UN Peacekeeping operations, 6 are situated in Africa. So if we compare the 8000 kilometres of road in Lebanon with a land mass of 10,452 kilometres², with the sparsity of a mere 18,000 kilometres of roads in Mali, which covers over 1.241 million kilometres², then the deployment of Air Corps helicopters or Short Take Off and Landing military transportation aircraft would be a force multiplier. No matter the type of aircraft or their use, in order to get airborne and stay in flight, fuel or power will still be necessary. This will have to be balanced with the real life need to protect our planet as Yuri Gagarin famously quoted "Man - kind, let us preserve and increase this beauty, and not destroy it". So electric or hybrid systems, or even seaweed fuel to reduce emissions will become the norm, an ideal power source would be solar power. 2016 was a ground breaking year for this source, in July after 14 months of travel and 550 hours in the air, the plane Solar Impulse 2 accomplished the phenomenal feat of traveling 25,000 miles around the world without a drop of liquid fuel. A staggering 17,248 photovoltaic solar cells each one roughly the thickness of a human hair were used to harness the sun's vibrant rays supplying the aircraft's only power charging the plane's four lithium batteries to keep its propellers spinning at night. This was fol - lowed in September 2016 when a solar-powered helicopter, called Solar Gamera, flew albeit for a short distance. Both of these historic events were conducted with extreme restrictions to the aircraft and their respective performance. How- ever, these breakthroughs will surely lead to a growth in this type of power source being used in aviation, even Wilbur Wright assumed that "no airship will ever fly from New York to Paris". The advancement in technology coupled with the ever-changing geopolitical landscape will mean that the Irish Air Corps will undoubtedly evolve into a new force, whether we decide to become a member of NATO or to reinforce our neutrality by defending our skies ourselves, we will need to invest heavily in aviation infrastruc - tures from primary radar to new facilities. There will be apprehension to any great change, this is always the case, but faith in technology and those who recommend it, is vital, as Henry Ford stated; "when everything seems to be against you, remember that an airplane takes off against the wind, not with it". No matter what the future holds for the Air Corps, it is hoped that one thing will not change, the men and women who serve, any military parade that has the eye-catching dapper Air Corps uniform on, is a grandeur pa - rade and these uniforms can only be filled by its proud serving members. UK First SAR purposed drone Solar Impulse 2 — Experimental solar powered aircraft project

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