The Air Force may be on an unmanned aircraft buying frenzy. But it’s still way too early to sign the death warrant for conventionally piloted aviation, cautions Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz.
The service is expected to buy 350 unmanned aircraft over the next five years. That’s one-third of all Air Force procurement. But pilots still will be needed for the foreseeable future, Schwartz tells a gathering of defense industry executives in Washington, D.C. “There are reasonable limits to how far we can go with this technology,” he says. “Would anyone here volunteer his wife or kids to fly in an aircraft that’s remotely piloted? Would anyone here be comfortable with nuclear weapons flying aboard a remotely operated bomber?”
Schwartz also says the term “unmanned” is a misnomer. They should be called “remotely piloted” aircraft. There is nothing unmanned about them, he says. Operating a Predator requires a crew of 140.