Comments on: Remember Slipping the Surly Bonds? Forget It!

By: Saul

Saul — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:50:47 +0000

Come on now!500,000 hours on a platform,isn’t realistic!Although,there are multiply drones it,
just doesn’t add up!Airlines,must be used here for
the hours and not Military etc…

By: Elvis

Elvis — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:59:10 +0000

So what I hear you all saying is that there are those that “have” and those that talk about it. Which category are YOU in?

By: The Cenobyte

The Cenobyte — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:57:40 +0000

Fine, fire them then. No offence but plane drives with the ability to pull a bunch of Gs in a 1/4 billion dollar airplane is not something there is going to be much call for in the future. Replace these guys with people trained to remote pilot planes, and within a decade or so most of the combat jobs will be taken over by a robot. I mean these things can pull Gs people never could and never get distracted. For many years to come there will still be people flying some planes and some fighters, but really how much longer can they last in a world where computers are better pilots than the pilots are.

By: G

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 02:52:46 +0000

Bring warrant officers back to the USAF. They can fly the UAVs. Make CWOs do all the flying. Officers are suppose manage and direct.
I see this as a correction to the USAF structure from NASCAR (driver and pit crew) to a more traditional military setup (commander and commanded).

By: Dennis

Dennis — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:34:27 +0000

Not to kick the pilots more than they seem to be;
But isn’t the training they receive way to expensive to be wasting on UAV’s?
I am assuming UAV’s will not be dog fighting within the next couple of years; they are not built that way. Yet.
Nor will they be landing like a C5.
It is a big waste of money putting these guys in charge of a UAV at this point.
I knew a lot of smart enlisted guys who had their pilot

By: txzen

txzen — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:06:56 +0000

What about the morale boost knowing that they don’t have the chance of being shot down in enemy territory, knowing their air asset can loiter longer, provide more intel per mission, and the reaper at least can provide 4–10 precision guided munitions on target pretty much like what they were doing in the air? I am pretty sure most people won’t think it is as cool but when an intelligent person, as most pilots are well educated, would think after some deliberation flying the drone is more efficient dollar wise fuel wise and pilot life wise as well as overall being able to provide more constant close air support to shooters and support personel on the ground won’t they think of it as an honor and a step in the right direction? Now of course hacking the UAV as a possibility does leave manned ships as a persistant need. So maybe they don’t have to worry so much?

By: Cole

Cole — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:49:43 +0000

Contractors already fly unmanned aircraft. Silly as it may seem, an enlisted guy kicked out of flying Predators in the USAF could probably quite easily get a job flying UAS as an Army contractor, and enlisted Army UAS operators do just fine. Future automation will allow fully autonomous UAS ops and tactical control of AVs/ payloads by your average Soldier/Leader/Staff.
Problem is that law prevents contractors from engaging the enemy, so out they go when time to lase or launch the Hellfire/Viper Strike/bomb. Guess the USAF is also preoccupied with flying in the National Airspace Systems where pilots instrument ratings come in handy.
But this is first time reading that they also want to fly UAS from other CONUS reserve locations. All those satellite links required & lack of understanding of what is happening on the ground…and Soldier FM doesn’t work too well reaching the U.S, but can work quite well with a UAS comms relay package talking to in– theater Army UAS operators.
I also still have nightmares recalling a story told by a coworker about a new USAF A-10 pilot getting briefed in his then-owned Army visual simulation facility who couldn’t recognize Russian equipment. You boys better hit the vehicle recognition flash cards with all these MRAP versions. BTW, Army UH-60s do not look like Hinds, MLRS do not look like Iraqi SAMs, nor will Canadian SOF small arms hurt you at altitude…but to be fair Apaches have shot U.S. combat engineers, too. And you wonder why leaders want the FSCL so far forward when all those Army scouts are running around out in front of the Army main body.
Admit that USAF has a neat means of preventing fratricide/improving effectiveness using fast movers, Predator, and joint terminal attack controllers (JTAC)for sharing information. Laser illuminators should help, too. That little ROVER system seems to work well in sharing imagery, and it would be even better if it was an Army One System-Remote Video Terminal.;)
Whoever mentioned shows of force…I concur with your/my amusement when JTACs report “the show-of-force was effective” in daily mission summaries. But you gotta admit that a B-1 flying at low level would be scare the begeebees out of the Taliban.

By: slntax

slntax — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:46:32 +0000

hahha chair force warriors looking for action. there are plenty of spots in the infantry, cav ‚armor and sof for you. instead of wasting fuel for some meaning show of force missions you can pound the ground like everyone else.

By: whocares

whocares — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:44:26 +0000

Two articles spotlight who will be the stars of future wars. By programmers and network techies. UAV’s are worthless without secure comm lines & near perfect computer code. Hack into that loop and someone can ruin a military.
I read recently about a espionage operation the Chinese ran against the NSA. Of course we’ll never know if its true, but lets assume it is just for fun. The theme was that the NSA hired some ethnic Chinese who lived in Hawaii to do translations of NSA snooping of China. I’m assuming these translators where US citizens. Well the Chinese evidently owned these translators and comprised NSA capabilites and in fact fed false info back to the NSA.
Imagine the damage if some unfriendly country managed to salt away some unfriendlies as programmers for UAV command and control. Or got some hired into the satellite command and control programmers used for UAV missions.
If the NSA can be bamboozled so can any other USG organization.

By: Crusty Old Chief

Crusty Old Chief — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:37:16 +0000

Morning Boys,
Coopers, muleskinners, sailmakers, ship’s carpenters, water tenders, boiler techs, signalmen, and now pilots! Damned upstart, snot-nosed, little scupper monkeys! This has just got to stop.
What’s next? No more CPO initiations, Tailhook sensitivity training, and Sailors on convoy security in the desert?!
Oh, wait. Nevermind.
Cheers,
Chief B.