"The military hopes to acquire the new aircraft within five years, but does not yet know how many it will buy or where it will buy them from.

There is no estimate yet on how much the aircraft will cost, though Williams said the drones are typically less expensive than the Aurora patrol aircraft the military currently uses when it flies surveillance missions.

UAVs are more affordable because they are generally smaller, lighter and cheaper to build than Auroras, and they use less fuel, need less maintenance and require fewer crew members with less training."

Armed forces in general (at least that of modern armies) are moving towards fast response, overwhelming force and low cost. UAV'S and robotic units are perfect for these roles. This isolates the general public from seeing some of their people killed in action; nobody cares if robots are pulverized.