[ClearCase_guy]

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

That seems over-stated. The problem for the Germans was that inexperienced pilots were sent up too early, and got shot down by the RAF. German pilots didn't live long enough to gain the skills that ought to have been passed on to the next group of young pilots.

Planes can be replaced far more easily than pilots. The Germans sacrificed their pilots.

You really can't get yourself into the same sort of fix witht he Predators.

[ASOC]

Hard to get hurt when driving a drone from an air-conditioned shelter just outside of Las Vegas.

I can imagine that looking at a monitor for 12+ hours looking for Hajiis in the bush can strain the old eyeballs tho...

Shame they can’t multicast over the web so many eyes can look as well....it would be the ultimate video game to some.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I think the Air Force sees bad things ahead....from the article:

Trainers will turn out more pilots for Predators next year than for all other Air Force fighter planes combined.

[patton]

Remember the Nena song 99 Luftballoons?

“Keine Doesenflieger mehr”

(We are out of pilots!)

[brazzaville]

Good morning.
“German pilots didn’t live long enough to gain the skills that ought to have been passed on to the next group of young pilots.”

Yet three of the five highest scoring aces in history were Luftwaffe pilots who survived the war.

Michael Frazier

[Mr. Lucky]

...and, of course, the Los Angeles Times fails to suggest just who it might be that would be engaging these drones in dog fights and how the lives of the drone pilots could possibly be endangered.

[slowhandluke]

You really can't get yourself into the same sort of fix with the Predators.

You are right, but it's better than that. This approach is normally called on-the-job training, and in this case, there's no better training to be had. It should be more cost effective than firing live rounds at dummy targets.

[Old Mountain man]

A huge part of the problem is that the Air Force believes that either driving an aerial bus or fighter requires the services of an officer and a gentleman

[BurbankKarl]

Sure you can...there arent enough Predator pilots and/or bandwidth to run them with. The locals may launch them, but they are flown from the US.

[gogogodzilla]

It’s still a valid point. While the Luftwaffe found that it’s pilots died... the US Air Force will see their Predator ‘pilots’ simply walk away from the Air Force, leaving no one qualified to use the system.

Though they are still alive, at least. But the practical upshot is the same. No one left to use the plane.