Robin Williams fans will remember the 1992 film Toys where a gung-ho military man realized that the video game appetites of children could be used for the purposes of making war. As with any bizarre, scifi-film, it turns out that this wasn’t far off. Armed forces around the world have for some time now been keen on the idea of remote controlled systems, whether for reconaissance, disarming bombs or even combat situations. Soldiers take a lot of resources to train, especially when it comes to fighter pilots. The idea of unmanned fighters is that the pilot lives to fight another day even if their craft is shot down.

The RAF is discovering an even better way to cut down on the cost of resources: use gamers instead of experienced fighter pilots. In conventional warfare every soldier must have a variety of skills in addition to whatever specialization they’re assigned. As the saying goes, ‘every Marine is a rifleman first’, meaning that even if you’re a computer technician or the pilot of a supply plane you’re expected to know how to fight. In our highly technologically advanced society though, the RAF is pointing out that this isn’t necessary.

RAF chiefs suggest that pilots with only thirty hours of flight training on these unmanned combat drones are sufficiently skilled to fly sensitive missions. They point to studies that have shown that the best drone pilots are often young gamers rather than experienced fighter pilots.