Question: How would you create a long term military aircraft which is durable through all weathers(with the possible exception of lightning), never has to refuel, is bulletproof, waterproof, fireproof, idiot-proof (simple) and gets the job done, no questions asked?

Edward Taylor answered on 12 Mar 2013:

Wow thats a big ask, I like your ambition! Most military fighters these days are already:
– lightning proof
– water proof
– fire proof

So that just leaves the tricky ones… I’ll have a go though!

– Never has to refuel – This one’s tricky because it will definitely need a source of power. People have thought about making an aircraft powered using nuclear power (like a mini powerplant inside the plane) which could be possible, but if it crashed it would probably cause a nuclear explosion! I think I would make the aircraft extremely light, and use solar panels all over the top of the plane and a large battery to store the energy from the sun during the day. Then it wouldn’t have to refuel (and at night it would use the battery).

– Bullet proof – If my plane is going to be really light, I cant stick big metal plates on it to make it bullet proof. What I would do is make it out of a new material technology called carbon nano tubes. They are 10 times stronger than steel and much lighter than the lightest metals. That would hopefully be bullet proof enough!

– idiot-proof – The easiest way to make something idiot proof is to take the idiot away! so I would let a computer control the aircraft. That sounds a bit scary (not sure if you’ve ever seen the film Terminator where robots take over the world!), but even now the American military has aircraft flying around controlled entirely by robots. They can scan and recognise anything on the ground and all they need to do is ask for a human’s permission before they shoot. Lets hope they don’t decide to turn on us!