Here’s a really interesting video.
It shows the QF-16 Full Scale Aerial Target’s first flight on Sept. 19 from Tyndall Air Force base in Florida from a quite unusual perspective: a camera pointing towards an empty ejection seat.
The aircraft was remotely controlled from a Ground Control Station at Tyndall by two F-16 pilots (“QF-16 plane controllers”) with the 82nd Aerial Target Squadron who flew the plane up to 40,000 feet at supersonic speed (Mach 1.47) engaging maneuvers like a barrel roll and pulling up to 7Gs.
Noteworthy, the pilot start the engine up, performs all the flight checks and then get out of the plane before the drone is guided to take off. During the test flight, the QF-16 was chased by an F-4 and another F-16.
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