It seems that the era of the piloted recon mission is coming to an end.
Just a few years ago, drones occupied only a fraction of the airspace over Iraq and Afghanistan, much to the chagrin of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who wanted to institutionalize the capability within the Pentagon and the Air Force, in particular. Mr. Gates at one point said it was like “pulling teeth” to get the Air Force to respond to the demand of today’s wars and to field platforms such as drones. Now, planes like the MQ-1 Predator or the MQ-9 Reaper are far more ubiquitous, and the demand for their imagery isn’t going away.
Gates pretty much doesn't like piloted missions in billion dollar aircraft and loves unmanned missions in million dollar drones. I can see where he is going with this because you don't need giant airfields to launch a drone. You just need a forward operating base and a dirt runway. Then you control the thing from Las Vegas. Too bad it is taking away a flesh and blood pilots job.
No comments:
Post a Comment