The recent 60 Minutes story titled “America’s New Air Force” caught my eye for a couple reasons. One, I’m always interested in learning about the cutting-edge technology employed by our military. And two, the story clearly would not have seen the airwaves or the Web without a strategy and a PR reason for the Air Force to allow CBS to tell it.
The full story is on the CBS website, linked above, and on YouTube:
The story details the latest innovation in what the Air Force calls “unmanned aerial vehicles,” or UAVs. 60 Minutes showed how the “pilots” of the new $11 million a piece “Reaper” and the “Predator” sit in a room on a Nevada air base, controlling its quiet – almost undetectable – flights above Iraq and Afghanistan by satellites, providing real-time protection for troops on the ground. Very video game-like. Maybe a job for my 12-year-old son, someday.
Amazing stuff.
But from my perspective in the corporate communications world, I also marvel at how the Air Force got the favorable story out there.
Sure, Lara Logan tried to hit on the chances that UAVs don’t always get things right. And that’s certainly a valid point when it comes to any technology and the human factors that contribute. But the story is, the Air Force has the capability to get it right, an incredibly high percentage of the time.
I like those odds.
And I like the protection and secrecy the UAVs provide.
Kudos to the Air Force and CBS for getting this out there. Extra credit to CBS for getting the Air Force to cooperate for this cool shot of Logan and her crew on the ground, from a Predator camera, for a demonstration during the story:
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