LJ -
I take it you are up to speed with maritime procedures and have spent many years on the MR2/4 or equivalent.
If the answer is yes, could you confirm that operating one of your new fangled UAV's is basically the same as being in the sim? I take it we would just replicate the MRA4 (go with me here) mission system and just make sure that all the sensors had the appropriate inputs. That would be brill! I take it you know what i mean? Its all very well operating a UAV at medium/high altitude doing orbits and then targeting a benign environment to one which is hostile (weather, sea state) at low level and takes multiple sensor inputs/human inputs to search, track and prosecute an enemy submarine.
A pred B uses a camera (whooooooo), radios (whooooo) some form of targeting, a weapon system and thats about it. UK Reaper consists of what 3 operators per crew? (yes i am sure there are all sorts of sneaky beaky sensor pods but this is unclass)
I know that some day this will be possible. But is that the right solution today? You quote google/BAE etc but I don't really feel you understand the human aspect of maritime operations and lack the knowledge to back up your persistence that it was a) right to cancel MRA4 and b) we have the capability now and soon to replace it. (my views on the project put to one side)