Raytheon in a new game for military drones

But the chair is for a qualified pilot and the landscape on the screen is downtown Baghdad, as defense contractor Raytheon Inc. provides a first look at its new control system for unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs.

The company says its Universal Control System, which uses some hardware from the gaming world, will shorten training time and help prevent crashes of expensive unmanned drone aircraft by providing a more interactive experience for the pilot.

"We wanted the human to get into a cockpit and feel they are stepping into the system," said Mark Bigham, director of business development, at the Farnborough International Airshow outside London.

While older systems used only a keyboard, single screen and joystick, a key factor for Raytheon was making the system more intuitive--replacing key strokes with a game console--after consulting with experts and discovering that thumbs are the most energy efficient and accurate way to control an aircraft.

The leather chair is adaptable to individual users, who can also control a heating and cooling duct above their head at the touch of a switch.

In a move away from what Bigham calls the "soda straw" view of most UAV pilots, the screens are augmented with digital images that provide a near 180-degree view.

Other data, such as the status of the craft and troop locations, is provided on a fourth screen, in much the same way that video games provide extra on-screen information on characters and ammunition levels.

Raytheon, headquartered in Waltham, Mass., wants to capitalize on the rapidly growing use of unmanned aerial vehicles in both military operations and civilian projects around the world. The overall global market is expected to rise from $3.5 billion to some $55 billion in 10 years, according to the Teal Group.

The war on terror has spurred the use of drones in combat areas, with unmanned aircraft currently flown by the U.S. Air Force and the Royal Air Force in both Iraq and Afghanistan.