Space Cowboys meets Terminator: the F-16 as UCAV

     The US Air Force has just successfully tested a remote-piloted F-16. Brilliant, but why? Press coverage indicates they may be used as target drones for pilots to train putting holes in, but there are even greater possibilities for this breakthrough. Numerous stories about drone pilot shortages and how the Air Force isn't sure about how to recruit for these roles. The question whether they should be using huge cash bonuses to lure fighter pilots to become drone pilots or if they should finding computer gamers for these positions seems to be hotly contested at the Pentagon. Perhaps using the F-16 as a viable alternate to the Reaper and the Predator solves this problem. While these drones have certain advantages like being able to remain on station for hours until needed, the F-16 as Uninhabited Air Combat Vehicle (UCAV) can carry a cannon and significantly more ordinance. Furthermore, the improved fuel economy that would come from removing the cockpit canopy and life support systems would allow the jet to remain airborne longer.

Three points to consider before you dismiss the idea:

1. There are hundreds of trained, vetted, experienced, retired F-16 pilots who would leap at the chance to serve again.

2. Further cost savings for the D.O.D could be found in the privatizing of this role. A Private Military Company offering pilots as contracted technicians saves the government on the cost of recruiting, training, vetting, and most importantly frees them of the burden of providing the kinds of health, education, and retirement benefits they have to provide to military pilots.

3. Surplus F-16's are numerous. A cursory look at satellite photos of Davis-Monthan Air Force base earlier today (who knows when the photo was actually taken) revealed well over two hundred F-16's sitting in storage. That is the the equivalent of several squadrons of planes, already paid, for that could now be retrofitted with the necessary hi-tech hardware for a fraction of the cost of new drones.


Of course it is still early days, but could the wave of the future be a blast from the past? 

For Further Reading:

F-16 Uninhabited Air Combat Vehicles by Kenneth E. Thompson, Major, USAF