Originally Posted by
rickair7777
They are also really not cheaper to operate, as their long endurance means multiple shifts of operators. One UAV provides more mission time than one manned aircraft, but it costs more too. They are in some cases cheaper to buy (but the global hawk was so expensive, it got cancelled).
Just think about that one for a few minutes. Think about all the recurrent training a fighter pilot has to do, the thousands of lbs of JP they are burning, think about simple things like their flight suit and helmet. How much does just the helmet for the F-35 cost? And then you gotta have a whole support industry that services the darn thing and everything else that goes with it. Think about all the parts like this. Think about all the pilot training that is required just to get that guy to that point, the T-38s, the other aircraft, and so on. Really, when you think about it, like really think about it, it's no contest. We have an entire infrastructure built around manned aircraft and pilots. When you are considering which is cheaper, consider that infrastructure cost first. When you think about the man hours, the resources, the training, the infrastructure it takes for just one aircraft....
Yes, the latest generation of UAVs aren't "simple" RC planes, but I don't think the costs are going to be anywhere near comparable when you look at the big picture.
There seem to be two kinds of people here (not labeling you though, I just happened to reply to your post
):
There is type that irrationally believe UAVs can't ever take on previously "manned" missions.
Then there's the type that sees the eventuality. The potential. The fact that technology overcomes absolutely amazing obstacles. They see that manned commercial US aircraft may be a long time coming, but they see the potential.
After all, the Russians launched Buran into space and landed it like an airplane with no one on board, and that wasn't like last year or anything. We had similar technology, but when we tried that (the one time the space shuttle landed at White Sands too) it went a little wrong and they disconnected the auto-land right before touchdown. I think that achievement for the Russians is monumental when you think about all the things that can go wrong and the complete lack of physical human intervention with the machine. That just blows my mind every time I think about it. The fact that it was so many years ago makes it all that more impressive. I guess when you think about it, we've already had unmanned cargo flights