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By Jefferson Morris, Aerospace Daily December 5, 2003
Combat experience has prompted the U.S. Air Force to discard its original concept of the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as an autonomous platform, and instead operate it as a remotely piloted aircraft capable of rapidly responding to changes on the battlefield, according to Brig. Gen. Rudy Wright, commander of the Air Force's 9th Reconnaissance Wing.
By the time of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the Air Force was assigning a dedicated man-in-the-loop for each Global Hawk mission, Wright said, "literally flying the Global Hawk ... for the full 18 hours of station time in order to integrate directly with strike aircraft in hunter-killer operations.
The Air Force developed a full "reachback" capability for the Global Hawk during OIF, in which the UAV and its sensors were operated remotely from Beale Air Force Base, Calif. … Global Hawk crews used Internet-style chat rooms to stay in touch, literally forming "a worldwide virtual crew," Wright said.
One of the Global hawk operators, CiNdi3987, a junior at Modesto High near Beale AFB, said the experience was "way bitching," adding that she had briefly held the high score for Global Hawk until GLorEeBoy273, believed to be from Arizona, displaced her.
As is the case with other chat rooms, the Air Force discovered that the "Worldwide virtual crew" quickly developed their own shorthand for commonly-used phrases. In addition to such commonplaces as "BRB" for Be Right Back, Cindi3987 listed the following Global Hawk Community Abbreviations:
RT: Roger That
NTI: New Tasking Incoming
NTREN: New Tasking Received, Executing Now
OVTQIFF: Observing Vehicular Traffic, Querying Identify Friend/Foe Electronics
OITASB: Oh My God, Is That a SAM Battery?
ITGTDLFFLTJTAF: If the Ground Troops Don't Like Friendly Fire, Let Them Join The Air Force
ICHSTSBWASL: I Could Have Sworn That School Bus Was A SCUD Launcher
WMMTFWHP: Watch Me Make That Farmer Wet His pants
SGDO: Sighted Geraldo, Dropping Ordnance
DDYTBCHQ: Double-Dare You to Buzz CENTCOM HQ
CSDHTOP: Cheney Says Don't Hit the Oil Pipeline
SBT: Sure Beats Tetris
LMFLIRSO: Laughing My Forward-Looking Infrared Sensor Off
IBLKSC: I'm Bored, Let's Kill Some Camels
OCITIJBS: Oh, Crap, I Think I Just Bombed Syria
DWITLRIAPD: Don't Worry, In The Long Run It's All Pre-emptive Defense
TSNBTCCP: Though Shalt Not Bomb The Coca-Cola Plant
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