Airforce out of envelope

Gates, Air Force Battle Over Robot Planes

By Noah Shachtman March 21, 2008 | 2:53:00 PMCategories: Drones, Paper Pushers & Powerpoint Rangers, Politricks

There may not be an open war, quite yet, between the Secretary of Defense and the leadership of the Air Force. But there is serious, palatable tension. And a nasty game of brinksmanship over the use of drones in the Middle East has only made things worse.

Last fall, the Pentagon's civilian chiefs shot down an Air Force move to take over almost all of the military's big unmanned aircraft. "There has to be a better way to do this," complained Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Michael "Buzz" Moseley. Things only got more tense when Gates said that the future of conflict is in small, "asymmetric" wars -- wars in which the Air Force takes a back seat to ground forces. Then Gates noted that the Air Force's most treasured piece of gear, the F-22 stealth fighter, basically has no role in the war on terror. And when a top Air Force general said the service was planning on buying twice as many of the jets -- despite orders from Gates and the rest of the civilian leadership -- he was rebuked for "borderline insubordination."

Now comes word from L.A. Times' ace Peter Spiegel that Gates "has ordered the Air Force to put nearly all of its unmanned Predator aircraft into the skies over the Middle East, forcing the service to take steps that officers worry could hobble already-stressed drone squadrons."

Pressure from the Defense secretary in recent months has nearly doubled the number of Predators available to help hunt insurgents and find roadside bombs in Iraq. But it has forced air commanders into a scramble for crews that officers said could hurt morale and harm the long-term viability of the Predator program.

Some officers said pressure from Gates resulted in one plan that could have taken the Air Force down a path similar to the German Luftwaffe, which cut back training in World War II to get more pilots in the air.

"That was the end of their air force," said Col. Chris Chambliss, commander of the Air Force's Predator wing. The Air Force plan, presented to the military leadership in January, eventually was scaled back...
MORE AIRFORCE NON-SENSE HERE SOURCE:

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I LOVE THE AIRFORCE, but guys:


Gee they want some one to play a zero error computer game that operates in real life.

Hmm now where could they get computer game whizzes?

Umm they probably could charge for Demo/trainers, and have the game send the IPs of the best players.

But where to find computer game players that would do this for 8 to 12 hours a day?

Gee someone with great reflexes, young, and geeks.

HELL THESE KIDS WOULD WORK FOR MINIMUM WAGE.

They don't have to be pilots.
They have to be very good at a specific computer game.

Which could be modeled in a computer trainer game, hell use the X-box.

They could even be civilians.
ITS A COMPUTER GAME.
They do this from a computer screen and joy sticks.

gerald

Its kind of like saying to drive a car you have to be an engineer,
Put some F-22 pilots behind the computer screen and joystick behind a
Predator for 8 hrs, then ask HIM, if he was flying a plane?
.