Originally posted by Fesarius
There's some question whether fighters would even be manned by that point -- the United States Air Force is already looking at ways to remotely pilot them. The problem is that the current performance ceiling is imposed by when men can tolerate, not by what the hardware can tolerate. But I digress.
Sorry, this caught my eye and I must respond. The U.S. military is consdering using remotely piloted and autonomous air vehicles for certain mission profiles (scout/recon behind enemy lines, primarily). Most mission profiles (especially air superiority, strike and ground support) will be performed by manned fighters for the foreseeable future.
Also, you forget that, in Trek, all ships have phenomenal inertial damping technology (a shuttle that can accelerate to warp without the crew feeling a thing for example). To me, that means a fighter could pull off high-G manuevers (that would normally be fatal to an occupant) without the pilot taking any of the G-forces. The "limits of the pilot argument" is not relevant in Trek.
Davy Jones
"Frightened? My dear, you are looking at a man who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom, and chuckled at catastrophe! I was petrified."
-- The Wizard of Oz
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