Look Ma, No Hands

[KevinP73]

Pilots cost more to teach and to maintain(PAY SCALE) and replace than foot soldiers so it's logical that the armed forces would address that expense first

[Seahawk]

Originally posted by wludavid
Cool! Can I come? I'm in Army R&D - mostly basic research so I don't get to close to many programs that are close to being fielded. Plus I just took an acquisitions class so I have programatic stuff on the brain.

You bet...the Army is buying this aircraft as well. I work with the folks in Huntsville all the time. PM me for specifics and you are more than welcome.

[Seahawk]

Originally posted by dd74
Amazing stuff. How large is the helicopter? Looks to be about a quarter the size of a standard helicopter.

Hey, I'm wondering if all this r/c technology/weaponry could make a soldier obsolete. What's the thought on that?

The aircraft is actually based on a Switzer 333, a manned helicopter with many hundreds of thousands of hours on it. We've made changes, but the mechanics are very close.

UAV's are an enhancement to the solder...I have two systems deployed that improve the situational awareness of troops/ships. The amount of data that goes around the battlefield to keep folks aware is amazing...right down to ruggedized PDA in the hands of troops that can access all the imagery our cameras and FLIRs can provide.

Our goal is to get the best SA in the hands of troops so they can made the best decisions.