AVSIG: The CAS Debate: PREDATOR v SKY WARRIOR

Folks,

Know that the difference is between the USAF's PREDATOR and the US Army's UAV? They are both identical UAVs that mount cameras, videos and Hellfire missiles. Only the PREDATOR has USAF painted on it and is controlled from Creech AFB in Nevada and the SKY WARRIOR has US Army painted on the side and is controlled from Kabul, Afghanistan. In simple terms the USAF wants the US Army to give up all its medium UAVs. The US Army is fighting tooth and nail to hold on to their UAVs with attack capability. They have had units ambushed and it took way to long for a controller in Nevada through a satellite link to get a PREDATOR on station.

This debate today over UAVs beteen the US Army and USAF seems the same'O same'O that General Mike Lynch/US Army discussed in his famous article in 1986 in Armed Force Journal International that upset so many in the Pentagon at that time. He is famous in the US Army aviation community. He sounds a lot like Bob and Mike. During first days of the Korean War, CAS was a mess. He got US Army and USAF pilots in the same aircraft in a solution that worked perfectly. But as soon as the crisis was over, the USAF ordered USAF FAC pilots not to fly with US Army FAC in the same aircraft.

Finally, in his famous article Lynch said something that still applies today: "...any enemy who is able to operate between the seams of our conflicting Service interests can gain tactical advantages all out of proportion to his combat investment.

Jack E. Hammond

NOTE> For those interested below are the pages from that AFJI article in August 1986. It is a very good read. Excuse my sloppy underlining. It was done almost 25 years ago, before I developed some style. <GRIN>

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