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SWJED
04-28-2007, 05:41 AM
From wretchard at The Belmont Club blog - Let the Real War Begin (http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2007/04/let-real-war-begin.html).


A high stakes battle in the skies between USAF and the other services for control of unmanned aerial vehicles is in full swing. Former Spook (http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2007/04/executive-agent-for-uavs.html) looks at the Air Force's claim to be the "executive agent" for all "medium- and high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles across the U.S. military." RofaSix (http://rofasix.blogspot.com/2007/04/usaf-wants-army-hi-med-uav-programs.html) smells a plot. Congress (http://dodnews2.blogspot.com/2007/04/house-asks-where-uavs-belong.html) has entered the debate to fight Homeland Security's corner. Defense Industry Daily (http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2005/02/raven-uav-draws-raves-from-the-field/index.php) notes that the clash is partly cultural. The Air Force insists that all UAV operators, even if they are sitting at video terminals, must be rated pilots (http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj05/spr05/hoffman.html) but the Army says this nonsense, pointing out that the best Army UAV operator in Iraq was trained as a cook.