Other than the satellite delay (which is just over a second) the situational judgement is actually enhanced. Why ? Because UAV pilot hasn't been living in a portacabin by the airfield, hasn't lived off chow food for 2 months, isn't strapped to a bang seat for hours on end and has the world's communications at his disposal, including a phone to call just about everyon e and everyone, including the JTAC s/he's working with as the radio's are a bit crap today.
There's physically and mentally removed. I can assure you they are very different.
When points like this are being put forward as decisive, its clear to me that the actual advantages of the UAV are still very much a trade off or aren't there. Suggesting that a pilot aloft won't have had a decent meal before hand or that he's not in a comfortable seat are rather simple, what the pro-UAV brigade miss is just what motivates someone to want to do that in the first place, especially given the lengths they have to go to to succeed. Arguments of the kind above take no account of this, the age we live in sees points like this being given far too much consideration. So here's a counter, what about the excessive boredom and lack of prestige for the ground pilot. He's little more than a sim driver in terms of his experience, will he have the sharpness and keen edge which the pilot/WSO actually in the air have? As for communications on board the aircraft, are
we suggesting here that all they've got is an HF set or something? just like aircrew at the start of the Second World War.
FB
