Originally Posted by
JamesNoBrakes
Yeah, ok, while the technology is being used all over the globe and we have self driving cars...

Actually the Pred/Reaper is in no way related, and none of them are "self driving." The network architecture is highly complicated and expensive. Suggest you educate yourself on how everything actually works, especially if you have SIPR access.
U.S. moves drone fleet from Camp Lemonnier to ease Djibouti?s safety concerns - Washington Post
20 years and billions in development gets you this kind of reliability, from what is comparatively a model airplane with a snow mobile engine, not a 767 hauling freight as some would suggest.
At least five drones based at Camp Lemonnier have crashed since January 2011, Air Force records show, including one that plowed into the ground next to a neighborhood in Djibouti’s capital, which goes by the same name as the country.
Last year, the Pentagon was forced to suspend drone operations in Seychelles, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, after two Reaper drones crashed on the runway at the main international airport, which serves half a million passengers a year.