The endless hours that children spend playing computer games is not, as many parents suspect, a waste of time but rather training for a future career as a fighter pilot.

Thumb dexterity will become a key skill for tomorrow's pilots as they take control of the multimillion-dollar unmanned drones that are likely to take over from manned fighters.

The current generation of children will clock up an estimated 10,000 hours of “thumb time” on games consoles by the time they start looking for jobs and Raytheon, the American defence company, is hoping to take advantage of the skills developed.

The company is developing a system for controlling unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) using X-Box and Nintendo Wii technology. The current fleet of UAVs, such as the £30 million Predator, which the United States Air Force and Royal Air Force have deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, are normally controlled by a single joystick and keyboard instructions.

However, using a Qwerty keyboard to control an aircraft remotely is difficult and Raytheon has been searching for a more intuitive means of piloting these aircraft.

Its answer has been to hire gaming developers to create a virtual cockpit that uses joysticks and control pads. This would allow a pilot to fire the Predator's Hellfire missiles by using the large red button on the control pad rather than typing in a command.

Keith Little, a spokesman for Raytheon, said: “What our guys have figured out is that the thumb control techniques used in computer gaming also gives pilots the most control.

“This has the added advantage that the Air Force will be able to recruit pilots who already have the dexterity required.”

Both the USAF and RAF have shown an interest in the Raytheon project, which will be demonstrated at the Farnborough Air Show next week.

Military commanders are concerned by the high number of UAV crashes that are caused by the difficulty pilots have controlling them remotely. Raytheon's Universal Control System is designed to be more like a real cockpit and will make piloting unmanned aircraft more natural.

UAVs are regarded as the future of flight and they are already used for numerous missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The USAF Predators, which are built by General Atomics, are flown by pilots located on a base near Las Vegas. The aircraft are typically used for surveillance and reconnaissance but can also be armed with missiles for hunter-killer missions. UAVs are also used for border patrol and BAE Systems, Europe's largest defence company, is working with Sussex police to deploy an unmanned aircraft that will look for criminal activity.

BAE is expected to unveil a new unmanned aircraft at Farnborough on Monday. This will mark BAE's entrance into the larger end of the UAV market having previously developed smaller models.

Thales, its rival French defence company, will also have its Watchkeeper aircraft at the show.

However, Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners and a 40-year veteran of Farnborough, said that the star of the show would be the USAF's F22 Raptor. Farnborough will be the first time that the $250 million (£127 million) F22, the world's most sophisticated fighter, will be displayed outside the US.

Mr Wheeldon said: “We have seen displays from other fighters like the Eurofighter and F16 for years but the F22 is something very special. I just hope it turns up. Two years ago a USAF B52 bomber was supposed to fly over Farnborough but got the wrong airport. That's precision bombing for you.”

More than 1,500 companies will be exhibiting at the air show and over 250,000 people are expected to visit during the trade and public days.

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