[MUST READ] Inside Drone Piloting In Nevada

The Washington Times reports from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada:

Grim Reaper is what it is sometimes called. The medium- to high-altitude aircraft can carry up to 14 Hellfire missiles — seven times more than its predecessor, the Predator. The Reaper's main mission is to "hunt and kill," but the pilots operate the craft from the safety of this air base in Indian Springs, Nev. [...]

On a recent Nevada afternoon, Col. Gough and Sgt. Graw, an expert in surveillance intelligence, "flew" over numerous Afghan villages and farmlands unbeknownst to the Afghans sleeping below. Not even the goats in the fields, which were clearly visible on streaming video, stirred as the drone flew silently above the Afghan night. [...]

"We believe we'll have a computer with as much computing power as a human no later than 2012," Gen. Peterson said in reference to meetings he had with IBM and other computer technology firms. "We want the aircraft to initially think through the problem and offer the pilot a couple of solutions to choose from."