This really bugs me. How about you?
Air Force Bugbots
video link
uploaded on Oct 29, 2009
The U.S. military has been working for a while on tiny, buglike drones -- to serve as miniature flying spies, Defense Department robot-makers say. But this video, from the Air Force Research Laboratory, shows that the military is also interested in turning these "Micro Air Vehicles," or MAVs, into biomorphic weapons that can lie in secret for weeks at a time — and then strike an adversary with lethal accuracy.
"Individual MAVs may perform direct-attack missions," says the video's gravelly voiced narrator. "They can be equipped with incapacitation chemicals, combustible payloads or even explosives for precision-targeting capability."
-- A promotional video from General Dynamics,
and the US Air Force Research Laboratory
This really bugs me too. How about you?
Air Force works to instill 'warrior culture' in drone crews
New training aims to get personnel to feel they are constantly in combat, even if they are operating the Predators and Reapers flying over Afghanistan from the Nevada desert.
by Julian E. Barnes, LATimes -- March 29, 2010
[...]
But after years of flying missions in Afghanistan, senior Air Force officers concluded they had the wrong people in that job. Instead, officials want the second crew member to focus less on interpreting imagery and more on helping fly the plane and strike targets.
"We are rewriting the Air Force's DNA," said Chief Master Sgt. Victor Allen, who is the career field manager for enlisted aviators.
[...]
The new training is a mix of the technical -- details about the radar, camera and laser systems -- and what Allen calls "infusing the Air Force warrior culture" into the job.
[...]
It's not just a Job, it's a way of life ...
US Air Force Recruiting Ad
video link
Uploaded on Dec 13, 2009
"We've been waiting for you."