Brian Bilbray: “I find it hard to believe my dear colleague from California can really believe that an unmanned observation platform…”

“I find it hard to believe my dear colleague from California can really believe that an unmanned observation platform like the Predator is not more cost effective than having a rotor wing with twin crews that have to switch off at least every 6 hours. Where you are able to do an unmanned observation, you can switch off crews while they're on site. You don't have to take the vehicles off station to be able to do the transformation from one crew to the other. And I don't know what data, where you're getting the saying that the unmanned vehicle is somehow not as cost effective as having rotor-winged manned vehicles on site in very remote areas. It just doesn't pencil out. This is the same kind of argument we heard 5 years ago in the military saying unmanned vehicles would never work in some place like Afghanistan, where you and I know the great hero of the Afghan war was the Predator. So I've just got to say sincerely, you've been in government long enough to understand that putting a rotor wing, a major helicopter up with two individuals to do aerial observations compared to an unmanned vehicle that has proven its technology over time and time again, that is able to stay on station, and this is one key along the border that most people won't talk about, they are able to stay on station so that the smugglers don't know when they're coming off station to switch crews to go down. A crew actually switches in the trailer on site.”