Questão 753719

Directions: Read Text VI and answer questions 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 accordingly.

TEXT VI

______ Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, caused

___ something of a stir at the annual Air Force Association’s

___ Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida. During an

___ informal ‘fireside chat’ with Lt. Gen. John Thompson of

5__Space Command on Friday, Musk told a room packedSpace Command on Friday, Musk told a room packed

___ with fighter pilots that “the fighter jet era has passed”.

___ Now, Musk is renowned for finding soundbites for the

___ media to hook onto, and also of causing calculated

___ disruption in his target audience, but even by his

10 _standards this is a well-baited line. What makes this suchstandards this is a well-baited line. What makes this such

___ a bold and controversial statement?

___ The contemporary battlefield is far more networked,

___ complex, congested and lethal – it’s those that adapt that

___ will survive. Simply being ‘a good stick’ will rapidly no

15 _longer cut it in the hostile skies of the future.longer cut it in the hostile skies of the future.

___ Musk’s main thrust is, however, that the human in

___ the cockpit is the limiting factor in air combat now, not the

___ advantage.

___ Firstly, humans are awkward for aircraft designers to

20 _accommodate. In a modern fighter the pilot sits on anaccommodate. In a modern fighter the pilot sits on an

___ ejection seat for emergency escape, needs an oxygen

___ supply and air-conditioning to function at extremes of

___ temperature and altitude, and requires flight controls and

___ instruments to fly and fight the machine. All of these add

25 _a significant amount of weight and cost into the aircraft.a significant amount of weight and cost into the aircraft.

___ Moreover, having a transparent canopy to permit the crew

___ to see out does little to improve signature management1

___ as radar cross section and the chances of reflected sun

___ glint all increase. The human also adds more weight,

30 _especially when encumbered with flight kit such asespecially when encumbered with flight kit such as

___ helmet, NVGs, g-suit and flight planning and survival

___ equipment. Traditionally, pilots sit toward the front of the

___ aircraft to afford them the best view for take-off and

___ landing, as well as air combat. This has implications on

35 _aerodynamics, stealth1aerodynamics, stealth1

___ design and weight distribution

___ factors. In short, it can make the designers life a lot

___ simpler if the pilot/crew are not in the aircraft.

(Extracted from https://www.forbes.com/. Accessed on March 03, 2022.)

Vocabulary:

1. Signature management and stealth: both terms refer to technology that reduces the likelihood of personnel, aircrafts, missiles, etc. being detected.

In the future, pilots will