NOVA

The HVI is on the move.

Drones.

These aerial robots are replacing manned planes.

They're revolutionizing warfare

by allowing us to see and kill from half a world away.

And they're making science fiction a reality.

Now, with unprecedented access

to drone scientists, engineers, and pilots,

NOVA reveals the technologies that make drones so powerful,

and the breakthroughs that are leading us into the future.

Will drones soon replace

even the most sophisticated manned planes

and become a part of our everyday lives?

It started out as a toy for my dogs to chase.

The worry is that we'll have

30,000 drones crisscrossing the sky

accumulating all this information.

They generate opposition both overseas and at home.

I speak out on behalf of the rule of law.

Now, enter a new chapter in aviation history

as NOVA takes you inside the "Rise of the Drones."

Three, two, one...

== sync, corrected by elderman ==

Major funding for NOVA is provided by the following...

Supporting NOVA and promoting public understanding of science.

And by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

And by contributions to your PBS station from:

Additional funding from:

Inspiring tomorrow's engineers and technologists.

And Millicent Bell through:

This is the ultimate melding of man and machine.

The U.S. has more than 2,300 manned fighter planes,

and pilots like Matt McDonough have long been our heroes.

The best fighter pilots that I've seen

are the ones that can make a quick decision

when things are happening very quickly.

But a revolution is underway

as manned planes are replaced by drones.

Are we approaching a time

when movies like The Terminator become our reality?

Oh God, it's the machines.

They're starting to take over!

A time when machines fly, think, and even kill on their own.

Drones are aerial robots that carry visual sensors,

navigation systems,

and sometimes even weapons.

They come in all shapes and sizes

and go by a variety of names.

The United States Air Force

uses the term "remotely piloted aircraft."

They are also known as

unmanned aerial vehicles,

or, as the media likes to call them, drones.

Already the Pentagon relies on

a family of more than 10,000 drones,

usually to spy, but sometimes to kill.

Small enough to fit in a soldier's backpack,

the three-foot-long Raven

is the most widely used spy drone in the world.

The stealthy Sentinel provided crucial intelligence

in the raid to kill bin Laden.

The killer Predator

has flown thousands of missions since 2001,

and the giant Global Hawk

can stay aloft and spy for up to 35 hours.

The military uses drones to support troops on the ground.

The CIA maintains a covert drone program

to find and target individuals.

The government claims drones have helped to eliminate

up to 70% of al Qaeda's top leadership.

They have been so effective,

the Air Force predicts

nearly a third of its attack and fighter planes

will be drones within a decade.

Planes can fly longer, they can pull more Gs,

they can be more precise when they bomb

if a human is not in the cockpit.

We're entering a new era

when the supremacy of even the most advanced planes

is being challenged

as engineers take the pilot out of the cockpit.

Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico

is the largest Air Force training base

for operators of remotely piloted aircraft.

My name is Chad,

and I'm a captain in the United States Air Force.

For security reasons we've been asked to cover our last names

to prevent us from potentially becoming a target of any kind.

Captain Chad has flown remotely piloted aircraft

in combat for three years

and now teaches pilots

to fly the world's most famous killer drone.

It's known as the MQ1, or more commonly, the Predator.

The Predator has changed warfare,

but it's just a hint of what's to come.

Where we are

in terms of unmanned aerial vehicles

is about the same place we were with biplanes

right after World War I.

We are at the very, very early stages of realizing

what the potential of unmanned aerial vehicles are.

Unlike complex fighter planes

that are engineered for speed and agility,

the Predator is built for endurance,

so it needs to be light and efficient.

It's the weight of a pick-up truck or so, about 2,000 pounds.

And it's balanced pretty evenly on the wheels.

With one hand here,

I can lift it up and set it back down.

The propeller-driven Predator

cruises at only 84 miles per hour,

and its four-cylinder engine

burns about 300 times less fuel than a fighter jet.

I can't say exactly how long it can stay up,

but it is possible to stay up over 24 hours.

A typical fighter plane

can only fly for about two hours without refueling,

and short, angled wings keep it fast and maneuverable.

But the Predator hovers five miles up,

often in uncontested airspace,

and its long wings maximize lift.

As you can see, it's got some flex to it.

With no pilot to protect, a remotely piloted aircraft

is much lighter and simpler than a manned plane.

On a fighter, the pilot's support equipment

and ejection system alone weigh as much as a Predator,

which in place of a cockpit has a satellite control system.

It's essentially the brains of the aircraft

that gives us the ability to communicate, control,

to keep link with the aircraft and navigate it.

The Predator's sensor ball

carries daylight and infrared cameras.

We can easily make out people from five, six miles away.

The sensor ball also guides

the Predator's two Hellfire missiles.

From right here we fire the laser

and the laser spot hits the ground,

and then once we fire the missile, this is the seeker,

so this seeker will find that laser spot

on the ground and travel to that spot,

giving us a very precise capability of employing weapons.

When conducting missions,

remote pilots work out of small trailers on the ground.

They control the Predator by satellite.

This link is what makes it possible

to take the human out of the cockpit

and fly from virtually anywhere on the planet.

It's tight, about the size of a normal shipping container.

A shift can be anywhere from two or three hours

up to eight or more hours depending on the situation.

From trailers like this,

pilots of the Predator and its larger cousin, the Reaper,

have killed thousands of individuals since 2001.

In this clip from Iraq,

a Predator pilot sees two insurgents firing mortars

towards a coalition airbase.

He tracks them and finally shoots.

Splash.

The pilot's role is to support troops on the ground

and go after threats

while trying to minimize civilian casualties.

We got a new altimeter for you.

With such high stakes, pilots like Chad need ongoing training.

Today, he'll be flying the Reaper

in an exercise 50 miles away, in the New Mexico desert.

All right, Greg, you're going to be my HVI.

I have... Shadow 1 station is going to be watching you.

A group of former soldiers

working for a company called Rally Point

will run an exercise

in which Chad will hunt down insurgents in a mock village.

We'll strike you there, and once you die,

stay there, drive...

Two will play insurgents,

and one will be a soldier on the ground communicating with Chad.

Have to take off now, so we are going to push the throttle up.

And there, we're up in the air.

The training mission offers

a rare glimpse into the mechanics

of how the U.S. uses drones to support troops

and prosecute its war on terror.

The goal is to make it as realistic as possible

so pilots can avoid mistakes when in battle.

They should be checking in here

probably in the next 20 minutes ore so.

It's going to be an MQ-9, a Reaper.

If they're at 25,000 feet, which they generally work,

we're not going to be able to see them at all.

It takes about half an hour to reach the mock village.

Drones like the Reaper can fly on their own

using autopilot and pre-set GPS locations.

But the Air Force still keeps human hands on the controls

at all times.

People have this concept of either,

"It's a manned plane

and the pilot's doing everything,"

or, "It's an unmanned plane

and it's something out of the Terminator movies."

The reality is it's in the middle right now

for both the manned and the unmanned planes.