Gamers to control real RAF planes in Afghanistan?
Gamers to take over controls from real pilots
According to a new GamePolitics article, Britain's Royal Air Force may soon be hiring gamers to take control of real combat drones in hot-spots such as Afghanistan.
Despite lacking the combat experience of some veteran pilots, the RAF increasingly believe that gamers make the best drone pilots - and we hear they're cheaper too.
Apparently, pilots without full combat training could soon be flying Reaper drones over Afghanistan; the remote controlled aircraft being offered to pilots with just the basic 30 hours of training behind them, despite the sensitive nature of the missions involved.
RAF bosses are reported to be using studies of videogames to make decisions, believing that the skills involved are broadly similar - and that even experienced pilots aren't always the best Reaper pilots. A similar US initiative is well under way, we're told.
