The effect of drones on the military

More men are required to attack a target by a drone than by an airplane. Civilians play an important role in a drone attack. These are some of the facts you'll learn from this article on the McClatchy web site. It is certainly an eye-opener.

To keep a Predator in the air for 24 hours requires 168 people, a Global Hawk drone requires 300. An F-16 needs 100 people per mission. We have 230 drones now and plan to have close to 1000 by 2020. You can see why the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff says,"Our No. 1 manning problem in the Air Force is manning our unmanned platforms. "  However, we can train drone 'pilots' faster. It only takes 44 hours for a drone pilot, but at least 200 hours for a regular pilot. 

There are just not enough military personnel to analyze the film from drones. So, we employ hundreds of civilians. There are at least a dozen contractors billing us for their analytical services. One firm, SAIC, has at least 450 people working on this project.