[Tree of Liberty]

In this case does unmanned mean totally autonomous or does it mean operated by remote, or at lease partially operated by remote?

I infer that the planes would have autonomy, but with remote human pilot overides. For instance, during it's trial run a couple years ago, The Global Hawk flew from the U.S. to Australia without any human intervention from the time it taxied to the tarmak to the time all wheels were on the ground and stopped.

[untrained skeptic]

I infer that the planes would have autonomy, but with remote human pilot overides. For instance, during it's trial run a couple years ago, The Global Hawk flew from the U.S. to Australia without any human intervention from the time it taxied to the tarmak to the time all wheels were on the ground and stopped.

Considering that many commercial planes can handle an entire flight from takeoff to landing automatically I would assume that these military planes would be able to do so also.

I guess the question is when a human being is expected to take over, and what can be automated. I'm betting the answer to that is constantly changing.