How Air Force Drone Pilots "Fly" The $32 Million MQ-9 Reaper | Boot Camp | Insider Business
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- čas přidán 16. 08. 2023
- 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
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.
I've heard the way how some of their guys were treat'ed it's horr'ible the guys need better treatment for stuff like simply kil.ling people at the simple push of a button. Such as things like how I heard one pilot was someone was treated awful how people didn't understand how drones affect the pilots of drones. That's what I heard, can you tell me anything about that if the drone pilot said anything besides that?
also that's horrible for what happened to him
oh no poor guy. i hope hes alright unlike the collateral damage / people who just were going by their day
@@koiyujo1543Are you having a stroke as you typed that out?!?!
nah they could have hired me.. I could kill a 100 people easily. lmao hahahah I will just think it as a game.
wouldn't killing civilians be more of an intelligence gathering problem rather than a drone/plane pilot problem?
that, but also, ISIS at least has been known to create the conditions for a catastrophe, literally setting up some of their own atop explosives and hostages in situations likely to lead to a airstrike so they can swoop in to harvest the resentment and outrage.
Pretty much...
It's a problem that they're using drones/planes when there is an intelligence problem
Agreed.
There are 3 options for these kinds of missions
1: Send in a ground team and risk the lives of many more people
2: use a drone and have them loiter and wait and have nobody at risk besides potential ground casualties
3: Send a B-2 bomber with the same or potentially less intel due to their inability to loiter and carpet bomb an entire neighborhood to kill 1 guy.
@@nikobelic4251sending in a b2 to kill one guy is just silly. Plane worth too much
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...
Her specific wording was "One of the issues that have been brought up." It's unclear who the original source that brought up the issue is in this context. It could be outside sources or it could be the US military making the statement.
@@__alt__568 That has nothing to do with the point that was made. Knowingly raising a point that you know to be false is unethical. The point is, she SHOULD know. Classic red herring.
Is it really blurred? Someone send link to where it says this
@@__alt__568 shes still raising a false point in order to push a narrative she either knows or should know to be false.
It's not a lady reporting. It's a man. How can you not tell this is a man's voice????
The fact that the military is allowing this to be released means there is something better either available or close to being available
Shhhh …. (there is).
no they fired cuase there was a sucide bomer
@@Calebhoi what? I didn’t say anything about the pilot firing here
im using your comment to get attention ion lol@@nikobelic4251
Things get declassified over time, not really related to new and improved equipment. Capabilities tho are still for the most part classified.
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.
You forgot the President
So what is the point of this check and balances if all that chain failed? Means the whole process was flawed.
@@annasadIt means mistakes happened... Doesn't necessarily mean the whole process is flawed. This is war, shit happens, obviously. The goal should be to make improvements.
the Houti has shot down one yesterday.-----
@@JL_____ Exactly. Glad you said it so I didn't have to. 😁
next video should be : How Yemeni Drone Pilots "land" The $32 Million MQ-9 Reaper
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😂😂😂
I’ve heard those cameras are reallyyyyyyy good 😬
She’s Jewish woman, her people or family is not the one being killed By the drone and the incompetent soulless pilots
She explains it in the rest of the sentence about being embedded in the region. As a pilot actually flying the plane you might be stationed in that area and therefore interacting with people from the region where you're dropping bombs. You will talk to soldiers who go patrolling the area. You will have a greater connection to people of that region.
You have gps and you know where you’re firing….how dumb are you
@souadh.7759 She isn’t Jewish for one. And two I would hardly call the pilots “incompetent and soulless”.
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.
best comment 👍🏼
Yeah that remark made no sense. Unless those pilots in the sky have eagle-eye vision!!
It's a lot more than 2 miles
@@donpayton737 oh.
02:16 that idiot really said cultural sensitivity. Does she think pilots who fly "fixed wing" planes knows culture of the enemy or cares about culture.
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.
Where did Yamashita bury the loot
What about going around killing innocent farmers for no reason and than peeing on them ? Your army has been doing that on video and you can watch it I mean come on stop acting as if it's so difficult for y'all to kill the "wrong people" 😂
Good thing suicide bomber works that way, with the data they had, they prayed that they were correct. It is an art actually seeing blood splatter here and there. Hallelujah
Congrats on probably killing innocent people in a war you lost
Yemen'in aslan adamları bu serçelerden kaç tanesini sapanla avladılar? 🤣
Wake up awful Troll, no drone in the world is unbeatable! But for sure the MQ-9 Reaper is the best in the world! What about the thousands drones Russia has lost in Ukraine.
@@emperorpalpatine7540 My friend, this is very embarrassing 2000$ drone take down 35 million dollars drone, and not just once, they did it 6 times
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.
hit the tail prop
Su-27 pissed on the reaper and melted one of its props.
Don’t matter it still got all the way in Syria without being spotted.
Pretty sure these drone pilots are the best instrument-rated pilots in the world!
they aren't pilots as they are not in the aircrafts.
Nah
@@chltmdwp They're considered pilots. theyre physically controlling the plane through the GCS and have a sensor operator controlling the camera. Both are considered Pilot/Co-pilot in the MQ9. They both get their aviator wings just as any F-16/F-35 pilot would.
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."
This is wrong, the military only data masks and selective editing of footage.
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.
Nothing screams threat quite like a wedding
I couldn’t agree more
Yes they may have seen the same thing but they are trained very differently and derfor are thinking very different about the decision making. You can’t ignore that the experience of being there in a cockpit sure is more intense and different than not being there many miles away.
@@normaluser4599 "wedding"
@@luffirton There isn't any intel or decision making difference between a manned or unmanned aircraft. The pilot sees the exact same thing. Many of the optical suites are even the exact same.
This is a lot like gun control. An AR-15 seems scary because the media tells you it is, but no one bats an eye at a 22lr handgun which historically has been used in way more murders than an AR-15.
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.
Or holloman. New Mexico bases suck
lol
Well said
We appreciate your thoughts 😂
@@arsenals781 I was one of you until a month ago.
Airforce: Pilots Wanted. Must have at least 5 yrs of Flight Simulator Gaming Experience! 😂
And a free ticket to eternal hellfires on judgement day.
it doesn't matter if a pilot is in a fix wing craft. they are just pushing buttons and never have to see their targets up close and personal. if they want uo close and personal, have better digital image processing with better resolutions.
So says you from a comfy couch in your home.
In a way yes the pilots are just button pushers and have a minimal role in the decision to strike a target, but in this case it very much does matter that they're not in a manned aircraft. Most fixed-wing aircraft just get orders to boom and zoom on targets in a matter of hours. The MQ-9 crews can do that, but most of the time they observe targets for upwards of months before striking them. All-in-all it is much, much more personal for MQ-9 crews, hence the higher likelihood of PTSD than manned pilots.
@@spaceladjack3105 talk to the manned aircraft pilots and you’ll see it’s tough for them also
As someone who is thinking about doing the Air Force, these videos are so interesting.
The vast majority of Air Force personnel do nothing like this. They're in support roles usually in jobs that correspond 1-to-1 with a civilian job.
@@kenlandon6130 a lot of NATO countries are hiring drone people these days
Well done !
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.
Great story. Tough men. My grandmother remembers fondly the chewing gum and chocolate she got from a GI. A stark contrast to a group of German soldiers standing around the corpse of a young man laying in a pool of blood. We Europeans are eternally grateful.
how is this related to Reaper Drones
@@markusmeldre Because some reaper drone operators are conflicted and struggle with civilian life after killing people. The same way his uncle struggled after fighting the Japanese.
I see these flying above Fargo ND almost every single day while im working.
20 Years ago you used to see the Happy Hooligans occasionally flying their F-16's. When I transferred to NDSU I lived off-campus and parked at the Fargodome and remember hearing them when they would land or takeoff while I would be walking to class...It was unbearably loud sometimes.
While it's messed up and more should be done to prevent civilian deaths, how is a remote pilot any different than a guy sitting in a cockpit thousands of feet up?
Pilots are detached from the ground no mater what.
Maybe cause one is actually in the air, while the other is practically playing a video game
@@untasty4215 Modern cockpits are more video game like than ever. They're not looking down on people out of the window, they're looking at screens and graphical displays. They're getting almost the same view as a remote pilot. Neither of them are anywhere near the explosion.
Both of them are looking at computer screens and pressing a button. They're both nowhere near the explosion and they're far away from any possible retaliation.
I'm not defending bombing innocent civilians. I'm only saying that putting pilots in actual planes wouldn't change anything. They're both detached.
It's taking away the single only way of succeeding in fighting back from whoever's home towns are being decimated, if you're going to all but indiscriminately kill people then stick your leg out more than not at all, if you kill someone's friend, child or other family, be prepared to die as a consequence.
In this case, does matter that they're not in a manned aircraft. Most manned aircraft just get orders to boom and zoom on targets in a matter of hours. The MQ-9 crews can do that, but most of the time they observe targets for upwards of months before striking them. All-in-all it is much, much more personal for MQ-9 crews, hence the higher likelihood of PTSD than manned pilots, especially considering they can't talk to friends and family about classified flights even though they go home to "normal life" the same day unlike being deployed.
I grew up on playing Call of Duty back in the day and it doesn't compare at all. There's a difference between just playing a game and working a lethal profession.
Yeah, definitely seems more like the fault of intelligence rather than the fault of a drone pilot/fighter pilot.
It’s litterally called the “reaper” because it just comes to kill - doesn’t discriminate
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...
Pretty much. They do have the final say in releasing the weapon as pilot in command, which basically means they can still refuse to release a weapon for any reason. Ultimately though the authority and main decision/clearance is received from up the chain after going through a whole vetting process. Pilots can deny any clearance given, but they can't independently clear themselves to engage a target if that makes sense.
They chose to do this. They're definitely to blame they're not being forced to sign up and be drone pilot
@@Itzskimpy Responsibility is shared across multiple authorities. Choosing to take a life is never one person's sole responsibility as I explained in my other reply. Sure, pilots choose to fly the aircraft, but they are not just bloodthirsty killers. It's a profession that's taken very seriously to avoid unnecessary noncombatant casualties to the max extent possible.
@@Itzskimpy This is probably the most ignorant comment I have ever read. Clearly you post comments before reading what you are replying to.
then get fired@@spaceladjack3105
So having no pilots onboard allows to consult additional staff in the ground control unit. Cause they couldn‘t attach cameras to the drone, if there are pilots in the aircraft?
Drones are one of next level thing which mankind has discovered
Crazy part is they have been around since the 60’s
@@jimmyboe25 intresting
Drones are probably the most effective military equipment created since WWII
I hear dis dude everywhere.
Very Dangerous MQ-9 Reaper Drone.
Imagine just seeing "reconnecting" when you're flying it
It’s something we train for actually
@@brentsummers2676 Fancy seeing you here :)
@@brentsummers2676 Really is fancy seeing you here wow
Irrespective of a drone or a physical fighter aircraft performing a sortie, the decision has already been made and the mode of execution does the alter the intended outcome however twisted and sinister or justified it might be. You are in the armed forces and the powers that be have spent a lot of money to make sure you have learnt to follow orders.
That's right, and as a remote pilot it is not just your decision to kill, it's the entire chain of command.
You get a special opportunity to do this very specializes work, don't cry about it after... You know who is plugging
up the VA system with patients, kids that volunteer to go into the military to perform a duty, then come home
and complain they have PTSD and receive a lifetime of disability because a bomb went off near them or they were shot at!
@@onazram1 The veteran's human guilt if any in America's so called shit storms around the world is at least addressed in their medical centres as taking lives can never be justified. Unfortunately nothing changes with the change of guard at the executive level of govt or in Capital Hill.
You sign up in the US armed forces to satisfy the agendas of the elite in US govt and Capital Hill. There was 1% inspiration and 99% corruption in the so called War on terror. It should actually have been called War of Terror.
Fortunately "to the best of my knowledge", India is no Pakistan for America to openly use armed drones.
I see a military video and automatically hear the narrators voice🤣 The guy has a badass voice for these videos
Can't wait to buy one. 😆
The greatest keyboard warrior ever
It’s the future!
Excellent video, dispassionate and factual.
Shout out to LtCol Hill! Loved workin for him!
Do a video the the MQ-1C, US Army.
america can kill a coachroach from halfway across the world, but, cant find money for school bus drivers
Maybe because government shouldn’t be in education? Would you trust the state to make iPhones?🤷♂️
Or won't stop looters from looting super markets in plain day light
Dumbest reply. Trillions spent for military complex buddies and can't spare like .00000001% on its people is what he meant
Not the issue here! The real cockroaches are living large in America. Ppl are not a priority. Politicians are only concern about ppl when there’s an election. And ppl need to understand that. Which they haven’t!
Industrial Military Complex
the new sat camera technology it so good reduces the need of these.
Casual Opsec reminder boys
Yes, sir! Respec Opsec!
Imagine sitting at home and then boom, you're dead. Simply because some American soldier many miles from you thought you were a threat.
Another couch warmer making assertions for a person sitting in the real hot seat following orders
@@XX-166 That's not the point he's conveying, neither is he making an assertion, as he's presenting a hypothetical situation, which is justified by real-world instances of collateral damage. He's raising a point about the moral implications of drone operations, which you seem to interpret as an attack on the experience of the operators.
@@JustinRM20 you seem to assert that you’re a pro and have walked in the shoes of the drone operators. You have zero knowledge and there’s no need to be someone else’s public relations girl… they can speak for themselves.
@@XX-166 I'm surprised by your ability to discern whether I have knowledge on a subject by a CZcams comment. I wish I had the power to dictate who replies to me (preferably only those who agree with me, those who don't have a Hellfire missile knocking on their roof).
@@JustinRM20 save your breath for your inflatable date as that’s no surprise to you goober.
does it have protection against flares and fuel?
😂 Yemenis destroyed your 30 million dollar drone
replaceable
One of these just cruised my house bro. For an hour. Houston Texas. @1am to 2am 4.5.24 what the entire fawk
Not me in the camera shot 🥴
I find it funnier they have their name tapes pulled for anonymity, but their name is with their interview 💀
Beavis and Butthead gonna love playing that thing
Wonderful it's a claver system of territory
That lady’s comment about sitting in a fixed wing aircraft was kinda weird. Why specify fixed wing (as opposed to rotary wing, aka helicopters)?
the one in battlefield 4 was so cool
один из лучших каналов по теме
down by houthi with a 10k weapon, good exchange rate. apparently us dollar is still the strongest
Drone pilots are seeing the same thing a regular pilot would see. There's little difference.
See how complex it is to fly this drone , now imagine the people who built it
Who’s here after Houthis shut down this 30 million drone 😂
Slingshot shoots 30M drone
Looks like some soldiers might be able to work from home very soon.
How on earth a man can sleep, and get back to home after killing 7 civilians people.
Children too! The propaganda machine is very powerful
Like this. 😴 🛌
Probably because he didn’t know that he killed children
Make a video and topic is (how hothes destroy 32bn$ drone)😅
i think this is better opton than a manned aircraft who is in air all by himself making decisions when he look down on target sky from his cockpit, he is still far from onground situatiion. but in case of drone. he is stilling in a comfortable place with multiple people all around him and in case he can be replaced by another pilot
"Hahahahaha... Lemme stop by the bank." - Raytheon, 2023
Yeah boy.
The fact they took off their nameplates tells a lot.
i mean would u want ur last name on display to a reporter and to youtube
I saw a reaper one time at work those suckers are silent you don’t even hear it in the air lol
This say a lot about what's going on in the world.
One of those can help Hawaii
13:45...Sure Pal, you're not at risk but what about the guy that wears a Scarlett Beret (JTAC)?
I like the narrator's contrived voice.
I was so close to getting this job on my ASVAB and was depressed because I wanted to protect people without putting myself in danger. I will try again when I get to the end of my mos contract
What branch are you in?
"You can't just willy nilly cause civilian harm" Russian commanders: "hold my vodka blin, watch dis cyka!"
Russians may get flack for the Moscow Theater Crisis, but you go to hand it to them, they stopped domestic terrorism better than when Bill Clinton, Obama, and Biden gave terrorists billions of dollars in return for hostages and incentivize terror.
I want one soooo bad
There is no difference between a conventional pilot and a drone pilot killing people. It's all about the training to avoid 3rd party casualties!
the guy who’s talking needs to do an f-150 commercial
“built ford tough”
Did you know the Iranian people call Qassem Soleimani "Kotlet" after he was killed by MQ-9 Reaper, Kotlet is an Iranian food, simliar to a hamburger that is made with meat and potato, after Soleimani was killed, the term became popular among the Iranian people, that's how much the Iranian people despise the regime and it's people.
How yemen forces take down?
Lets keep irrelevant news reporters out of this. These people are clueless
explain then since you're so well informed. What drone did you fly?
You cant rely on technology forever, unless combined with real ground level intel
I'd be curious to know what the communications delay time is. Unclassified of course. 100mS? 1000mS? From the time the pilot makes an input until the aircraft acts upon that input.
3 secs from pilot input to the satellite to the aircraft to the input commanding the servos back to the satellite to the screen to pilot receiving change to the input. They teach you to be deliberate with your control inputs. After a while you forget about the delay and flying something with no delay is weird.
@@codydennis5884 Thank you. Amazing technology. I come from the early 80's when GPS was 1 person in a 12 man squad had a huge ruck to carry at Erwin so the Starwars facility could monitor.
Funny how an ad of Obama asking for donations popped up when watching this.
Air force is the coolest cool coolesf
I remember Soundwave from Transformers Prime on this Plane.
I saw a faint light slowly flying in the sky really slow and was silent and pretty high up, it wasnt one of these was it!? Oh well its on my list of mysteries. I was like of a moving star 😂🤣
They can pilot them from much further away than 1600 miles. The drones in the Middle East are piloted from Nevada. Get your info correct 😮
Some chick walked in to the propeller of one of those drones while testing it.
""Enemy UAV in the area"
“Cultural sensitivity and being embedded w a community “ lady wtf are you talking about. Our military is targeting the worst of the worst
These days the government finds more solidarity with terrorists than their own citizens or servicemen.
If these guys in the video just handle launch and recovery, who is actually behind the stick during the mission?
Yemen shot it down 6 times in the past seven months😂
W drone strike
1:12 "As US troops" *shows UK troops*
No😊
@@JH-xf3zr literally yes, those are Brits
before firing the missile the Pilot must get consent
Maybe maybe just like maybe
good gor hooti.
what is the point of taking the name tags off if ur just going to get named in the video
There must be empathy training for drone pilots
2:12 lady this is war…. Ur enemy will not feel the same for you. Create more streamlined process for identifying vehicles and better training
how? starlink
Why are nameplates off and names blacked out
reconnaissance: Keşif
Ah the famous wedding killing machine
Providing freedom to resourceful countries