Unfortunately, Whittle ends the story in 2003, before many of the political battles over RPAs had fully evolved, but his focus clearly remains on the story of innovation and determination that brought Predator to the battlefield.īeyond the history of innovation it describes, this book vividly depicts the way organizational processes contorted to accommodate this new technology. Whittle shows how a few relentless innovators, facing staunch institutional resistance, overcame obstacles to meet a compelling mission need. Nevertheless, it soon became clear that 'Predator's biggest problem is political' (p. Many of the solutions they developed were imperfect, and the system today is burdened by the legacy of several earlier technological shortcuts, particularly in human-machine interface. Starting with the chief engineer and visionary, Abe Karem, the book describes how a few dedicated pioneers overcame a myriad of technological and organizational challenges. Told from the point of view of its participants, Predator describes the technological innovations that made RPA operations such a vital aspect of American airpower today. The operational successes and failures he describes say as much about the organizational dynamics in government as the technological genius of the system's designers. Predator traces the RPA's journey from experimental technology demonstrations in the 1970s to the modern battlefields in the war on terror.

Richard Whittle's new book Predator is worth reading for both skeptics of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) and advocates of this technology. Predator: The Secret Origins of the Drone Revolution by Richard Whittle.

Predator by Richard Whittle