Robots in the sky

Scripps Howard: There was a pivotal event in the history of aerial warfare recently at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
A remotely piloted, unmanned aircraft dropped a 250-pound bomb next to a truck, close enough to have destroyed the vehicle if the bomb had been armed, and did it from 35,000 feet while flying at 442 mph.
Afghanistan might be remembered as the war where drones really came into their own. According to the 9/11 commission, Predator surveillance drones flew 16 missions in the fall of 2000, twice identifying a tall robed man surrounded by a security detail. But there wasn't much the drones could do because the Air Force and CIA were still wrestling with the problem of arming them.
When that was solved, the Predators began flying their missions armed with Hellfire anti-tank missiles. In Afghanistan, they eliminated Mohammed Atef, Al-Qaida's military chief, and in Yemen, Qaed Sinan Harithi, said to be the mastermind of the attack on the USS Cole.
Air arsenal
The Predators are now an accepted part of our air arsenal. Drones are relatively cheap, able to stay aloft for hours and if they crash or are shot down there is no pilot to be taken hostage.