Replies

Memorandum

To: hchutch
From: SECDEF Rumsfeld
Subj: UAV losses

1. Yup, another drone has been shot down. This is the second one, IIRC. We lost a couple of Global Hawks before we got the landing software fixed.

2. Recon variants of the F-117, F-22, and B-2 would be many times as expensive as the drones, would take 10-15 years to deliver, and would be used a lot less because of the risk to aircrews.

3. The reason that UCAV losses on the scale we've had would "cripple" combat squadrons is that losing the plane usually equals losing the aircrew. Birds are replaceable, particularly when they don't have to be man-rated. Pilots are expensive to train, expensive to retain, very expensive to replace, and you also have to massage their egos every five minutes or they get depressed on you.

4. Right now, UCAV concepts are at about the same level of maturity as combat aircraft were in 1915--but the technology curve is moving much faster. We'll be at Gulf War standards before we know it.

r/s,

Rummy

Memorandum

To: SECDEF Rumsfeld
From: hchutch
Subj: UAV loss

1. One thing for sure, that UAV had to have seen something that the Iraqis did not want us to see. Normally they content themselves with shots from AAA. This time, they sent a fighter into the no-fly zone.

2. Recommend we send any assets we can spare to the area around the shootdown and search the area very thoroughly. I think we might find something interesting.

r/s
hchutch

>Recon variants of the F-117, F-22, and B-2 would be many times as expensive as the drones...

"As one defense official said last year, "UAVs are well-suited for the dull, dirty and dangerous missions" because of their use in very long missions, in areas that might be "dirty" due to chemical or biological weapons and "dangerous" because of the risk factor involved in flying into some areas.

They are not, however, any cheaper to operate. According to the Pentagon, an armed Predator costs as much as a manned aircraft, as its operation involves a sophisticated command-and-communications system."

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Strangely, a Chinese
newspaper [!] had good data
on the Predator.