Thereâs an economic crisis going on, and times are tough all over. Even at Britainâs Royal Air Force, which is looking to save a penny or two by replacing some combat pilots withâŠgamers.
Thankfully, weâre not talking about real fighters here, so rest easy, people of Britain. You wonât have some snotty-nosed kid crashing a Eurofighter into your back yard.
You may find one crashing a Reaper â an unmanned reconaissance drone â into an Afghaniâs backyard, though, with the RAF choosing to skip on the ÂŁ4million it currently spends training drone pilots like proper pilots. Instead, theyâll begin employing pilots with as little as 30 hours of basic flight training, with special attention given to young gamers.
See, the RAF reckons research has shown them that the best drone pilot candidates are those who are experienced video game players, rather than experienced pilots. Sounds crazy at first, but when you think about it, pilots are experienced at actually flying. But flying something remotely via a 2D monitor? Thatâs a gamerâs area of expertise.
Oh, and in case you were worried about these âinexperiencedâ pilots being given command of anything truly dangerous, youâll be happy to know that, yes, Reapers are often armed. And armed to the teeth, as itâs able to carry laser-guided bombs, air-to-ground missiles and, soon, air-to-air missiles as well.
RAF jettisons its Top Guns: Drones to fly sensitive missions over Afghanistan [Daily Mail]
