They can try, but common usage counts for pretty much everything in semantics. This is why we see semantic shift with words changing meanings over time. Drone is perfectly acceptable in this context.
Chris,
I realize before I even continue that this is likely a pointless discussion, but just to try one last time.
If you are required to assign multiple meanings to the same phrase, then does it not make sense to assign a different term that more accurately describes what is actually taking place?
Frankly, I don't care if you call it a helicopter instead of an airplane.
But I think you are being pendantic here.
When you ask someone in Air Force or Navy aviation what a drone is, he will tell you that it is a remotely piloted target. It is given the assignment QF such as the QF-104, or QF-4.
When you talk about a pilotless aircraft then you are talking about such a thing as that scramjet test aircraft that was launched off the B-52 and did not have a human at the controls. Everything was pre-programmed. Another example would be the RQ-4 Global Hawk before it was converted to an RPA. It originally was autonomous, flying on a pre-programmed flightplan, without human intervention, from takeoff to landing. That is the concept of pilotless aircraft.
When you talk about a manned aircraft, then that is an aircraft where the human at the controls is located inside the aircraft.
When you talk about a remotely piloted aircraft, then that is an aircraft where the human at the controls is located outside the aircraft. And, it doesn't mean always on the ground, but sometimes in the air inside another manned aircraft remotely piloting the RPA! Yes, there are tactics for that option!
Now, Chris, I've spend many years getting paid to do this. And I am quoting from official sources to make this point a final time.
Like I said, you want to call them something else, knock yourself out. But, don't confuse your personal opinion with terms the professionals use and have asked the media to adopt. Some media already have. Others are late to the game and still use inaccurate terms. As technologies change and morph it is important to use terms that convey essential differences vice use one term to lump all the various options into the same pot.
Ken
