Time to break the current thinking pattern II. (Complete Guide).

See the picture below? A few years ago, anyone who would have proclaimed that the military pilots' years were counted would have been pointed at with a stiff finger and severely despised, primarily by the pilot community of course. This picture, taken at Farnborough in 1999, shows that the pilot-less aircraft trend worm has started to chew off at the glistening golden wings. But the good old-fashioned habit of stencilling the pilots' names on the fuselage had been preserved.

While one could say that the pilot-less aircraft discipline started quite some time ago, and indeed this survey on what used to be termed drones proves it, the long-range reconnaissance mission is what is currently making a further dent into the pilots' private hunting grounds. The eventual and inevitable replacement of the U-2 for the Global Hawk further illustrates this mutation.

Driving or flying from a remote location has always been more difficult than doing the job from within the vehicle -- whether we consider an aircraft or a ground vehicle, anyone who has any experience with either of the conditions will confirm this -- although driving a remotely-controlled ground vehicle is the most difficult, as indeed the evaluation of obstacle position relative to that of the vehicle is particularly arduous. Quite the contrary with aircraft, the only real obstacle is, well, gode olde planet Earth. That which one always needs to seduce more than approach. This alone probably explains why, against all the speculative odds ever since the Wright Brothers' exploits on Kitty Hawk, the aircraft has proven to be the easiest vehicle to be remotely piloted. Of course, none of this would have been made possible before the take-off of electronics.

During the official roll-out ceremony of the Lockheed Martin F-22, the editor couldn't resist having a thought for Douglas Bader when a high-ranking US Air Force official, commenting on the virtues and technical progress achieved with the Raven, dropped this amazing line: "this aircraft is normally flown with your feet on the floor", showing that a good deal of pilotage simplification had been achieved in the footwell area. No doubt dear old Doug would have relished the feature.

Bomber aircraft are probably next on the list. This process is on and one may even argue that as far as the bomber is concerned, this started on 13 June 1944; not quite so in fact, since the V1, like all the cruise missiles that followed, was never asked to fly back home. Cruise missiles like the Apache, which are designed to drop runway-breaking bombs, could be made to fly back to base rather than crash on completion of the mission. This, however, would require more fuel, therefore a longer fuselage, thus larger wings and hence a more powerful engine. But as demands grow, sophistication increases and prices sky-rocket, they might become worthy of a return to base.

Inevitably one day, Armada will produce a survey on Ucavs. But in the meantime, let us have a look at those drones which have already performed an incredible number of missions over areas that few pilots would have dared darken with the shadow of their wings...