[Nuclear1]

It's not like that chap is the only person behind it.  At any one time, the USAF alone has at least three surveillance aircraft over Afghanistan picking out targets in addition to the ground forces, so UAV pilots are remarkably well-informed.

[Thaeris]

Good point, but there is an inherent response delay due to the distances involved. Other aircraft such as the A-10 don't have any such problems.

[Nuclear1]

For the Predator's job, the time delay is damn near irrelevant. It can do damn near whatever the A-10 can do in terms of a hit and run job.

[Thaeris]

Fair enough. 

[Klaustrophobia]

but it can't make it rain 30mm hunks of metal.

[SpardaSon21]

I thought the A-10 fired high-explosive armor-piercing rounds, so it would be raining 30mm metal hunks of explosive doom.

[headdie]

i think it depends on mission and expected opposition

[Thaeris]

Standard A-10 round is 30mm AP round: the round is filled with depleted uranium which tends to spall on impact.

[Klaustrophobia]

i was gonna write "30mm hunks of depleted uranium" but i wasn't sure that was standard issue.  i think it's actually a mix of stuff.  don't they use tungsten too?

[Dilmah G]

They're going to have to find a pill to sedate me first before I ride in a helo without a pilot present. I simply do not believe you have the situational awareness on a ****ing computer screen to effectively fly a helicopter, even if you can pan the bloody thing. How on Earth you plan to evade an RPG is beyond me.

Section IC: RPG, three o'clock low!
Operator: Hang on, hang on, I can't see it. I'll pan the camera down just a little bit!
*helo goes down*

But we've seen it all before.
"Pilots are going to be replaced by missiles!"
"Planes will be able to fly themselves!"
"Nukes will make you all obsolete!"

I don't dispute the effectiveness of UAVs, but I think there are some things in military aviation you will absolutely need a pilot for. If anyone can show me a UAV outmaneuvering a piloted fighter aircraft...

[Nuclear1]

They're going to have to find a pill to sedate me first before I ride in a helo without a pilot present. I simply do not believe you have the situational awareness on a ****ing computer screen to effectively fly a helicopter, even if you can pan the bloody thing. How on Earth you plan to evade an RPG is beyond me.

I don't think anyone has any intention of replacing transport helos with UAVs anytime soon.  But UAVs have essentially been doing the Apache's strike mission for a while now.

The military pretty much expects UAVs to be shot down at this stage.  If anything, Afghanistan is more of a proving ground for them.  They're doing fantastic as quick strike and surveillance aircraft, and as far as I can tell, the military's on the fast track to replacing the manned aircraft that already fill those roles.  As soon as they can, they'll replace all the RC-135 variants and the MC-12 with drones. 

I don't dispute the effectiveness of UAVs, but I think there are some things in military aviation you will absolutely need a pilot for. If anyone can show me a UAV outmaneuvering a piloted fighter aircraft...

Not yet at least.

[Shade]

I thought the A-10 fired high-explosive armor-piercing rounds, so it would be raining 30mm metal hunks of explosive doom.

Standard A-10 round is 30mm AP round: the round is filled with depleted uranium which tends to spall on impact.

i was gonna write "30mm hunks of depleted uranium" but i wasn't sure that was standard issue.  i think it's actually a mix of stuff.

Klaustrophobia got closest. I actually talked to a guy who worked with A10s once, and they do use a mix. Specifically, he referred to the standard loadout as the "Party mix", presumably because it's full of all kinds of delectable goodies. The exact contents were, not surprisingly, classified.

Now that that's cleared up, feel free to return to the topic of heavily armed robotic terminators prowling the deadly skies

[Dilmah G]

As a general aviation pilot, I'm hopelessly biased against the whole idea of a completely unmanned aircraft in general, but in Strike and Surveillance roles, I'd have to say I'm happy with that. Strike missions are inherently dangerous, especially if you come into a zone where the enemy may have anti-aircraft weaponry (not a *huge* risk at the moment I understand, but in a fully-fledged war, it's a huge risk), if you can keep a pilot out of harms way in that instance, I'm happy.

I'd still rather have an RAF Tornado pilot when I need **** done, however. I've read extremely good things about their Air-to-ground manner, even from US pilots. But I'd expect good things from an Air Force whose Buccaneer pilots had issues pulling up into power lines. 

Now that that's cleared up, feel free to return to the topic of heavily armed robotic terminators prowling the deadly skies

Pshaw! I'd rather we try and have cars drive themselves before tackling the task of aircraft.

[Mongoose]

"UAV used Autonomous Thought!"

"...it's not very effective."

[BengalTiger]

They're going to have to find a pill to sedate me first before I ride in a helo without a pilot present. I simply do not believe you have the situational awareness on a ****ing computer screen to effectively fly a helicopter, even if you can pan the bloody thing. How on Earth you plan to evade an RPG is beyond me.
Section IC: RPG, three o'clock low!
Operator: Hang on, hang on, I can't see it. I'll pan the camera down just a little bit!

*Before anyone does anything, the UAV sees a missile and shoots it down*

Pshaw! I'd rather we try and have cars drive themselves before tackling the task of aircraft.

Those are all nice and everything until there's a situation that the programmers didn't predict.

Same goes with UAV's I guess.

[Dilmah G]

If I recall, these vehicles are going to be controlled via remote operator, aren't they?

[Bobboau]

How on Earth you plan to evade an RPG is beyond me.

who cares it's a UAV, it's cheap and disposable.

Pshaw! I'd rather we try and have cars drive themselves before tackling the task of aircraft.

flying is actually an easier problem for a computer.

[Liberator]

"Cheap" being a matter of perspective.

[Bobboau]

compared to a full sized fighter and pilot. it's probably cheaper than some missiles.

[Nuclear1]

Not really.  Most missiles cost between $10K and $80K.  The Predator costs $4.5 mill, and the Reaper costs $10 mill.  That's still much cheaper than a $129 million F-22.