How Air Force Drone Pilots 'Fly' The $32 Million MQ-9 Reaper | Boot Camp | Insider Business

The US Air Force’s MQ-9 Reaper drone is a remotely operated unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV. It is used primarily for intelligence collection and precision strikes against targets on the ground. Because of its lightweight design and long wingspan, the Reaper can stay in the air for about 20 hours without refueling.

The MQ-9 Reaper has been involved in a number of missions, including the 2020 strike that killed the Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, but it has also been linked to civilian deaths. In August 2022, the Department of Defense released the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan to address these civilian-harm issues.

Insider was granted access to Cannon Air Force Base to observe the 12th Special Operations Squadron to see how it’s training new pilots to remotely fly this drone.

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How Air Force Drone Pilots "Fly" The $32 Million MQ-9 Reaper | Boot Camp | Insider Business

[bt]

I met a former drone pilot. He said it was very difficult because he would leave his home where he lived with his wife and kids, go to work, do drone strikes, then come home to his family after killing up to 30 people. It really messed with his head.

Often times, he only had information from people on the ground. Yes, he made the decision to fire, but in reality, he said its the people feeding him information that control his actions. He has no way of really verifying himself.

[cvspvr]

wouldn't killing civilians be more of an intelligence gathering problem rather than a drone/plane pilot problem?

[nikobelic]

The fact that the military is allowing this to be released means there is something better either available or close to being available

[wafu]

As a reporter, you would think that she would know that its standard practice for the military to derresolution footage when publicly released. The footage isnt fuzzy. The footage YOURE seeing is. They dont have the same issues, and even if they did it has nothing to do with the strikes, failure to gather intel and other issues are a bigger point to discuss than something like that...

[chadmitchell]

That human rights lady saying you cant feel the same cultural sensitivity as if you were flying in an actual fighter jet. Like what? You can’t tell who the hell is down there or what culture they are from being a mile in the air😂😂😂

[ronnie_]

A lot of times, it is not the drone pilot who makes the decision to fire. The decision goes through a "Kill chain". Drone crews identify a potential target, the imagery is sent to higher ups, analysts, and even lawyers to make the call.

[tcniel]

When I was an artillery forward observer in Vietnam, I had the same fears of killing the wrong people, you do the best you can with the data you have at the time and pray you are correct, it is why war is referred to as an art.

[mohamedalhumaidi]

next video should be : How Yemeni Drone Pilots "land" The $32 Million MQ-9 Reaper

[checkmate]

A pilot 2 miles in the sky looking at cameras and sensors isn't in any better position to gauge ethics of the activity on the ground than a guy in a box on us soil looking at cameras and sensors.
Its clear that insufficent intelligence gathering or the checks and balances of the aproval process that either pilot, remote or local, would have to go through isn't good enough. Being able to delete a person without any immediate risk should be something done cautiously and only with 100% guaranteed success.

[totallynottoaster]

A Russian Su-27 did not collide with an MQ-9 over Syria, however a Su-27 did ram into a MQ-9 over the Black Sea, Russian Su-35s dumped flares on an MQ-9 in Syria but that's not what you meant, please try to be accurate in your reporting next time.

For anyone wondering the narrator says something at the end about A su-27 colliding with a MQ-9 over Syria where the footage from the MQ-9 being rammed over the Black Sea is shown.

[jbl]

Pretty sure these drone pilots are the best instrument-rated pilots in the world!

[Doomsday]

The thing I don't quite understand is: Why blame the *drone* for the civilian casualties? Even if it was a manned aircraft, the outcome would have been the same. It still would have looked like a threat, if the operator/pilot was in the aircraft or not, they're seeing the same thing.

[salpirwani]

Airforce: Pilots Wanted. Must have at least 5 yrs of Flight Simulator Gaming Experience! 😂

[frisk]

Let us get this straight... The drone pilots are not to blame whatsoever.. They are NOT the ones who decide to engage or not to engage.. They have a shot-caller that gets and gives clearances to fire... The pilots just do what they are told to do by the powers above...

[JogBird]

america can kill a coachroach from halfway across the world, but, cant find money for school bus drivers

[Khemtime]

Must be nice to be able to visit Cannon AFB, film for a little bit, and then get the hell out. My thoughts and prayers go out to the poor airmen stationed there.

[highcommander]

7:42 they always talk about fuzzy footage; but this is mostly classified military craft... meaning the footage we are seeing has been processed and stripped of quality and function. Anything you see is a factor of 10 worse than what the government actually sees. Why? Well for one thing, the government can't let their adversaries know actual capabilities or that could lead to enemies creating development goals based on those. So let's stop saying the "footage was blurry."

[PortuguesePirate]

I see a military video and automatically hear the narrators voice🤣 The guy has a badass voice for these videos

Drones are probably the most effective military equipment created since WWII

[MERC]

My late uncle was an infantryman in the 96th Division on Okinawa and told my dad of an incident that should have killed him, but he survived. Uncle's company was spread out moving through some tall grass as they carefully looked for the enemy. My uncle said as he took a step, the soil felt spongy, and his step was immediately followed by a blast that threw him backwards. He was covered with blood and bits of tissue. Fellow soldiers rushed to him, thinking he was wounded. As it turned out, aside from ringing ears and being shaken up, he was whole and uninjured. What the soldiers found was a Japanese soldier in a camoflauged foxhole who apparently detonated a grenade under his chin, blowing off his head and helmet. As to why the fragments didn't hit my uncle, they figured the enemy's helmet and the material covering the foxhole deflected and absorbed some of the blast. My uncle survived the Battle of Okinawa and was one of the few men in his company who made it through without being wounded or killed. The fighting was so bad, the above story was the only battle incident he would discuss after the war with my dad, who was also a soldier.