So you feel that operating a UAV on this border patrol mission at a
cost that exceeds that of operating a C-182 by several orders of
magnitude is not worth griping about? Why is a UAV the platform of
choice in this mission? It's technology is unnecessary ill suited to
the mission; the money is better spent on ground agents and
deportation funding. There is no rational justification for using
UAVs, in my opinion. It's just a way for the Bush administration to
get headlines and pander to General Atomics's business interest
without materially affecting the influx of illegals which might dry up
the cheap labor pool.


I agree, BUT, show we ONE company that has put in a contract bid to do this
mission?

Anyone out there willing to do this job (covering the same loiter times as
the UAV) needs to come forward and put in a bid for it.

We can bitch all we want but if no one out there wants to do it, what is the
government supposed to do?