War Is No Video Game – Not Even Remotely -- Scott Swanson, Breaking Defense
The first person to fire a Hellfire missile from a Predator drone in combat and destroy a target writes here about his experience. Scott Swanson has never written about this before. Read on. The Editor.
Flying a Predator drone in combat is nothing like playing a video game. Take it from me, the first person to pull the trigger in a lethal missile strike from a Predator.
As one of the early Air Force pilots to fly that Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, or UAV, I cringe when people make snide comments about the “Chair Force.” No, the pilot of a Remotely Piloted Aircraft can’t hear his plane’s engine, feel its motion, or smell that airplane smell; and yes, he (or she) has a joystick and throttle and a couple of TV screens in front of him. But there the comparison ends. Mentally, the pilot is inside a Predator, though the drone is half a world away. Emotionally, he is at war.
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Update: Early Predator Drone Pilot: I Had Bin Laden in My Crosshairs -- ABC News
My Comment: This is a fascinating story. Read it all.
1 comment:
"Shortly after UBL entered that building, I turned the aircraft’s controls over to a pilot nicknamed Big. Within minutes of the switch, we were alerted to a military jet being launched from a nearby airfield."
Fairly good evidence of collusion between Al Qeuda and the Afghan government, at least in high echelons of the Afghan military.
The counter argument would be that the Predator was spotted on radar and the Mig was on a put "eyes on" mission. This was early in the UAV program and perhaps the pilots were careless in that regard. But I would have a hard time believing the Afghani radar operator would have the training to recognize the Predator, much even have the radar turned on.
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