drone value

[VictorInThePacific]

Can someone please tell me what the value of drones (eg. the Predator) is in Harpoon.

As far as I can see from the game data, they have poor radar, low speed, and generally good range.

It seems to me that, as soon as one of these things gets anywhere useful, it will simply be shot down. In real life, that's better than getting a real plane and pilot shot down, but in Harpoon, it's just another, possibly rare, asset, and it costs exactly the same as a real plane and pilot.

If we had hundreds of these things, it would be OK, but if you only get one, what value does it have?

Am I missing something?

[YankeeAirRat]

In real life, if you are to believe the media, a couple of Predators have been shot down while flying recon ops near the Iraqi border prior to OIF. They aren't completely invisable to radars. Also if you have ever seen one up close, it is a pretty large aircraft. Finally, the Predator isn't equipped with any sort of radar. Rather it is strictly equipped with a FLIR and TV camera system.
 
I haven't played with one in the game. However, I would hazard that it would be useful for BDA after you have rolled back the air defenses. Such as surveying ships that you have attacked but haven't disappeared off the screen yet.

[CV32]

As YankeeAirRat points out, UAVs like Predator aren't designed to fly into the thick of enemy air defenses in an all out war between major combatants.

In low intensity conflicts, however, or where you are trying to cover large swathes of geography, UAVs prove their worth in performing ISR. Try loitering a Global Hawk somewhere in Westpac, and you'll quickly see just how valuable they can be. [;)]

[VictorInThePacific]

In partial answer to my own question, I have just launched an RQ-4 Global Hawk in a WestPac scenario.

Aside from the fact that it has a range of 14,000 nm (not a typo) and a considerably better radar than my original question suggested, it apparently flies at VH altitude, and that may make it largely invulnerable to hostile forces. The flight altitude information is not available unless you actually launch the plane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Hawk

Check out the size of that puppy! No model airplane here.