Originally Posted by
SkyHigh
How could a UAV see and avoid enemy planes? How could they insure a positive link with the control center? How effective could an unmanned combat aircraft really be anyway? It would cost too much And be too difficult.
Apples to Oranges.
Military UAV's operate almost exclusively in military controlled airspace, or by special arrangement with civilian ATC...or with a manned chase plane to supervise them.
They are effective in certain roles because they have long endurance and are cheap (relative to other military platforms) and relatively expendable (unlike a human pilot).
If you are willing to lose the airframe, you can make it cheap with little or no redundancy. Today's UAV's could never be certified to carry pax.
Could it be done? Sure. But human pilots are still the cheapest way to achieve the required safety levels.