Grumble

My take on it:

UAV's offer a VERY cost effective solution to ISR, with some CAS/Premptive strike capability. You just simply can't compete money wise keeping a section of TACAIR overhead doing the same job. However TACAIR offers a quick response time to anything (look at what the F-15E's are doing in Bagram) and they bring more to the fight in the way of weapons and capabilities... the solution lies somewhere in the middle and I think that's what has been evolving in the 'stan over the past few years. However we're a LONG way from a 100% UAV solution.

As far as the rated aviator debate, turning the program over 100% to the enlisted side of the house is questionable. Do you want an E-x employing weapons with outcomes that can draw world wide attention? When I was at Creech they already had E's running sensors and part of the loop but they weren't in the final desicion making matrix. I still think this offers a fantasitc opportunity to guys that are medically (or for any other reason) disqualified from the cockpit.... much the same way a lot of WSO's have come to be because eye sight or other issues kept them out of the front seat. The incentive pay issue is a whole other bag of cats though, with as many opinions as there are pilots.

Paok

4 RPA's at assignment night last week for class 10-11

XHooker

Well said!

LivingInMEM

As said by someone who either: can't think critically, has no idea of the current role of MQ-1/9s and/or follow-on assets, or is in support of having the "lowest bidder" man the ONLY CAS/Overwatch that many of our troops engaged in actual shooting combat receive.

Whether that support should be RPA is another discussion, the reality is that the support IS via RPA. This discussion is whether those who man the asset should be the best candidate, or whether incentives should be offered to attract those best candidates.

Grumble

Completely untrue and totally inaccurate statement. I'm going to leave it at that because this thread has been toeing the OPSEC line for a while, and I've had to go back and edit some of my own responses for that very reason.

LivingInMEM

Can we agree that, if the RPA left, more manned CAS would not follow? The USAF has decided that RPA is in the CAS mix, not me.

There are plenty of units that only get RPA support, if the RPA went away, so would their support - there is not an excess of manned assets. That's public knowledge, as is the fact that Army units have suffered casualties that could have been prevented with CAS (some officers were recently punished for that before their punishments were suspended) that was not available.

Here is a bet that will win money more often than not. If an RPA is supporting a TIC or providing CAS (which they do), you can bet that no manned asset was available. When was the last time they sent a Viper home because an MQ-1 showed up?

That's not my call, I've never advocated RPA replace manned support, but I have to live with the reality in front of me. The reality is that the CAS many units are tasked with is RPA or nothing, and sometimes manned shows up after some transit time after a TIC and sometimes it doesn't (either way it's usually too late by that time).

That statement was neither untrue nor inaccurate. If you're beating an intruder with a stick, it's because you don't have a gun. If you're supporting a TIC with weapons from an RPA (especially MQ-1), it's because that's all you've got.

Given that, I have yet to figure out why we are not OBLIGATED to man that support with the most fully-qualified rated personnel that we can muster (not rely on lowest qualified volunteers and then pay incentives if we don't get enough of them).

Grumble

If all the UAV's were red striped from some freakish reason (feasible but a discussion for another forum)... no I don't think guys would go unsupported. It would take a monumental effort and metric ton of cash to replace them, but then again that's what this is all about. Money.

LivingInMEM

Again, sticking with reality vs theory, the days of fighting wars with seemingly endless resources are gone.

SkyHigh

I read someplace that UND is starting a remote pilot program. Does anyone know about this?

Skyhigh

Grumble

Well that's kind of the point right? For the cost of sticking a section of F-15E's over head doing NTISR for an hour... you can have one Pred doing it for probably months. Literally.