Warplanes: Turning Aircrew Into Shift Workers

The U.S. Air Force began using its large (Predator first, then Reaper) UAVs in the 1990s. It took 16 years for this growing UAV fleet to achieve a million hours in the air. But it took less than three years to achieve the second million flight hours. This is causing problems, as the air force is finding it easier to obtain new UAVs (and keep them operating) than it is to recruit, train, and retain the operators needed to keep the UAVs in operation.

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