Apologies for duplicating here what I have just posted in Nightfall - Unmanned fighters (and for contributing to to a slight thread drift):
Saving in manpower? Here's an extract from the RAF website (open source
RAF - Reaper):
The Reaper RPAS is operated by Nos 13 & 39 Squadron.
The aircraft is operated by a pilot, a sensor operator aided by a non-aircrew Mission Coordinator (MiC). In support of current operations the Reaper RPA is
launched from an airfield within Afghanistan by crews deployed in theatre. Once airborne the mission is flown by the crews of 39 Squadron from Creech Air Force Base in the USA or 13 Squadron from RAFWaddington by secure satellite communication before control is
handed back to the crew in theatre for landing. The current aircrew of UK Reaper have all been previously qualified as pilots on other military aircraft (such as Tornado, Harrier, Apache, Nimrod, Puma, Merlin and C-130).
So, two crews involved, one consisting of three mission operators (leave aside the groundcrew/maintenace for the moment, as this could be common to both manned and unmanned aircraft) and one that launches and recovers the aircraft.
Don't see much saving there; plus for long missions (14 hours fully loaded) you might have to use two or three replacement crews, especially the sensor operator.
Mister B