Originally Posted by
heights good
"Drones" are WAY over-scrutinised than say, a Typhoon or F16, who has only himself 'in the loop' for an engagement.
RPAS are not autonomous, they have a crew of 3 who ALL make a decision on the engagement and whether it is legitimate. Then there is the video feed from said RPAS being beamed all around the world and is recorded on a plethora of hard drives and seen by literally hundreds, if not thousands of people LIVE.
The RPAS crew also have numerous comms systems that anyone who is on the system can use to speak DIRECTLY to the crew. This includes several 'adults' who can stop ANY engagement.
RPAS are WAY WAY less autonomous and WAY WAY more accountable than a Typhoon running in at 420 kts, pulling up, dropping a PWIV and being 10 miles away before impact....
I wasn't talking about RPAS - I fully respect RPAS guys, they're legends and then some.
"Drone" was quoted for a reason. In this context it was for a person who acts in a way that is the complete opposite to a thinker. That is not somebody I want serving in our nation's military - and thankfully the selection seems robust enough to prevent that, which is why we have the best in the world.