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UAVs aren’t ‘unmanned’

What’s in a name? Sometimes, quite a lot.

Creech Air Force Base, Nev., is home to the Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles. The new commander there, Col. Pete Gersten, wants to change the name of UAVs to RPVs, or remotely piloted vehicles.

At first blush, the notion seems silly, a distraction that takes the focus off the Air Force’s most important concerns — combat readiness, wounded warriors, the well-being of airmen and their families.

But what Gersten is suggesting deserves serious consideration.

This is not about misplaced priorities such as, say, searching for a sage-green boot when airmen are serving on two war fronts. The proposed name change would signify a true cultural shift in the Air Force. Next year, for the first time, the service will buy more UAVs than manned aircraft. By 2047, according to the service’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Plan, unmanned aerial vehicles could be used for every mission except nuclear bombings and personnel transport.

The Air Force is transforming itself to lead the way to a future of aircraft operated from the ground — but still operated by people. As Gen. William Fraser, vice chief of staff, put it: “Unmanned systems are unmanned in name only.”

“Remotely piloted vehicles” more accurately describes the aircraft in the air over Iraq and Afghanistan — and recognizes that highly trained and skilled airmen are flying them.

Top leaders should embrace RPV and encourage the other services to do the same as a reminder that these aircraft, though dazzlingly sophisticated and endlessly promising, are useless without the airmen who, in fact, pilot them.