sonicboom
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2009
- Messages
- 704
- Reaction score
- 2
As part of an expanding programme of battlefield automation, the American air force has said it is now training more drone operators than fighter and bomber pilots.
In a controversial shift in military thinking one encouraged by the confirmed death of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a drone-strike on 5 August the air force is looking to hugely expand its fleet of unmanned aircraft by 2047.
Three years ago, the service was able to fly just 12 drones at a time; now it can fly more than 50. At a trade conference outside Washington last week, military contractors presented a future vision in which pilotless drones serve as fighters, bombers and transports, even automatic mini-drones which attack in swarms.
Five thousand robotic vehicles and drones are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. By 2015, the Pentagon's $230bn (£140bn) arms procurement programme Future Combat Systems expects 15% of America's armed forces to be robotic. A recent study 'The Unmanned Aircraft System Flight Plan 2020-2047' predicted a boom in drone funding to $55bn by 2020 with the greatest changes coming in the 2040s.
"The capability provided by the unmanned aircraft is game-changing," said General Norton Schwartz, the air force chief of staff. "We can have eyes 24/7 on our adversaries."
Some analysts view the Flight Plan study a virtual death knell for the pilot profession and predict the F-22s successor, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, could be the last piloted fighter programme.
Colonel Eric Mathewson, who directs the air aorce task force on pilotless aerial systems, has sought to downplay the studies' most futuristic predictions. "We do not envision replacing all air force aircraft with UAS (unmanned aircraft systems)," he said.Currently airborne drones are directed by trained pilots who then return to their assigned aircraft. This year, the service started training career drone operators with no airborne experience. They operate out of cubicles with eight video screens.
"It is safe to say most pilots will always miss getting back in the air," said Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Turner, who trains pilots. "But we see where the Air Force is going."
In Wired for War, author Pete Singer speculates the machines are harbingers of a new era of "cost-free war".
"It's an historic change," said Singer. "Going to war has meant the same thing for 5,000 years. Now going to war means sitting in front of a computer screen for 12 hours. Then you go home and talk to your kids about their homework."
US now trains more drone operators than pilots | World news | The Observer
In a controversial shift in military thinking one encouraged by the confirmed death of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a drone-strike on 5 August the air force is looking to hugely expand its fleet of unmanned aircraft by 2047.
Three years ago, the service was able to fly just 12 drones at a time; now it can fly more than 50. At a trade conference outside Washington last week, military contractors presented a future vision in which pilotless drones serve as fighters, bombers and transports, even automatic mini-drones which attack in swarms.
Five thousand robotic vehicles and drones are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. By 2015, the Pentagon's $230bn (£140bn) arms procurement programme Future Combat Systems expects 15% of America's armed forces to be robotic. A recent study 'The Unmanned Aircraft System Flight Plan 2020-2047' predicted a boom in drone funding to $55bn by 2020 with the greatest changes coming in the 2040s.
"The capability provided by the unmanned aircraft is game-changing," said General Norton Schwartz, the air force chief of staff. "We can have eyes 24/7 on our adversaries."
Some analysts view the Flight Plan study a virtual death knell for the pilot profession and predict the F-22s successor, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, could be the last piloted fighter programme.
Colonel Eric Mathewson, who directs the air aorce task force on pilotless aerial systems, has sought to downplay the studies' most futuristic predictions. "We do not envision replacing all air force aircraft with UAS (unmanned aircraft systems)," he said.Currently airborne drones are directed by trained pilots who then return to their assigned aircraft. This year, the service started training career drone operators with no airborne experience. They operate out of cubicles with eight video screens.
"It is safe to say most pilots will always miss getting back in the air," said Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Turner, who trains pilots. "But we see where the Air Force is going."
In Wired for War, author Pete Singer speculates the machines are harbingers of a new era of "cost-free war".
"It's an historic change," said Singer. "Going to war has meant the same thing for 5,000 years. Now going to war means sitting in front of a computer screen for 12 hours. Then you go home and talk to your kids about their homework."
US now trains more drone operators than pilots | World news | The Observer
