Tanner Yackley is a former USAF MQ-9 Instructor and Evaluator, former General Atomics Evaluator, former Assistant Professor, author, and researcher whose work focuses on supervisory control, human performance, autonomy, and the realities of remote warfare.
Public-facing documentary feature discussing MQ-9 operations, remote warfare, and the operational realities of conducting military operations through remotely piloted aircraft systems.
The documentary explores the practical, cognitive, and human dimensions of long-duration remote operations through the experiences of crews working inside the MQ-9 enterprise.
Watch on YouTube ↗Research-informed presentations grounded in operational experience, training, and the evolving relationship between humans and autonomous systems.
The operational, cognitive, and psychological demands of conducting warfare from a Ground Control Station across months and years.
What it actually takes for a human to supervise an autonomous or semi-autonomous system well, not merely monitor it.
The hidden cost of rebuilding a usable mental model after every handoff, interruption, shift change, or period away from the system.
How decision authority moves toward whoever holds the highest-fidelity understanding of the situation, and what makes that movement possible or dangerous.
How experienced operators prioritize the condition most likely to become unrecoverable first, rather than the issue that appears most urgent in the moment.
Instruction, evaluation, and combat employment of the MQ-9 Reaper.
Evaluated operators, readiness, and performance within the MQ-9 enterprise.
University of North Dakota.
Author and public communicator focused on the human side of remote warfare.
Research-informed community and public understanding effort focused on remote operations.
