Monday, December 31, 2012
Friday, December 28, 2012
Der Spiegel article - Drone Operator
A soldier sets out to graduate at the top of his class. He
succeeds, and he becomes a drone pilot working with a special unit of
the United States Air Force in New Mexico. He kills dozens of people.
But then, one day, he realizes that he can't do it anymore.
For more than five years, Brandon Bryant worked in an oblong,
windowless container about the size of a trailer, where the
air-conditioning was kept at 17 degrees Celsius (63 degrees Fahrenheit)
and, for security reasons, the door couldn't be opened. Bryant and his
coworkers sat in front of 14 computer monitors and four keyboards. When
Bryant pressed a button in New Mexico, someone died on the other side of
the world.
The container is filled with the humming of computers. It's the brain of a drone, known as a cockpit in Air Force parlance. But the pilots in the container aren't flying through the air. They're just sitting at the controls.
Bryant was one of them, and he remembers one incident very clearly when a Predator drone was circling in a figure-eight pattern in the sky above Afghanistan, more than 10,000 kilometers (6,250 miles) away. There was a flat-roofed house made of mud, with a shed used to hold goats in the crosshairs, as Bryant recalls. When he received the order to fire, he pressed a button with his left hand and marked the roof with a laser. The pilot sitting next to him pressed the trigger on a joystick, causing the drone to launch a Hellfire missile. There were 16 seconds left until impact.
Article continued.....
The Woes of an American Drone Operator By Nicola Abé
 |
| Drone operators at Holloman Air Force Base in the southwestern state of
New Mexico: Modern warfare is as invisible as a thought, deprived of its
meaning by distance. Gilles Mingasson/ DER SPIEGEL More images in gallery, click on link below. |
The container is filled with the humming of computers. It's the brain of a drone, known as a cockpit in Air Force parlance. But the pilots in the container aren't flying through the air. They're just sitting at the controls.
Bryant was one of them, and he remembers one incident very clearly when a Predator drone was circling in a figure-eight pattern in the sky above Afghanistan, more than 10,000 kilometers (6,250 miles) away. There was a flat-roofed house made of mud, with a shed used to hold goats in the crosshairs, as Bryant recalls. When he received the order to fire, he pressed a button with his left hand and marked the roof with a laser. The pilot sitting next to him pressed the trigger on a joystick, causing the drone to launch a Hellfire missile. There were 16 seconds left until impact.
Article continued.....
Monday, December 10, 2012
Invitation to Drone Warfare discussion
Anti-War Book Club: Drone Warfare
Saturday, January 12th at 2 pm at May Day Books, 301 Cedar Ave. S. Minneapolis (Below Midwest Mountaineering)
Drones are the new face of US warfare, yet many of us are not well acquainted with this technology. Come learn more about these war machines as we discuss Medea Benjamin's book Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control. We'll have cookies and coffee. Everyone is invited to participate or just to come and learn about drones.
Organized by the Anti-War Committee. Co-Sponsored by May Day Books.
Saturday, January 12th at 2 pm at May Day Books, 301 Cedar Ave. S. Minneapolis (Below Midwest Mountaineering)
Drones are the new face of US warfare, yet many of us are not well acquainted with this technology. Come learn more about these war machines as we discuss Medea Benjamin's book Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control. We'll have cookies and coffee. Everyone is invited to participate or just to come and learn about drones.
Organized by the Anti-War Committee. Co-Sponsored by May Day Books.
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