Have you tried not having a waypoint for it?

i didn't see option to disable waypoints. waypoints don't appear on the map. not during mission editing neither during game.

I prefer the way it is now, as it would be hard to get the UAV to circle around a target while using the gunner role. Maybe this could be added as an option?

circling around the target to engage is the worst thing that can happen.

the uav constantly change direction in unpredictable way and make you lose the correct orientation to fire the missile, and you must constantly compensate the turret camera orientation, rendering the target engagement nearly impossible due to lot of shaking.

when you have the piloting control you should align the uav in the correct direction, then you switch to gunner role. your uav should stay stable during the firing procedure.

the uav should only follow waypoints that you personnaly made. if you didn't made waypoints the uav should stay stable, like if it was in autopilot (maintaining the same direction, altitude and speed).

ps : the fact to enable the laser designator make the uav to align with the target direction, but there is still lot of camera shaking since the uav is going upside down every 5 seconds.

The bigger issue here is the lack of optic stabilization, and that you can't control guided missiles as a turret operator.

The current method is too complicated, you have to set several waypoints straight ahead of the target, so that the UAV strafes in a straight,long path to the target, then you switch to the turret seat, lase the target and wait until the drone decides to target your laser paint, then wait for it to decided to launch a missile. It's ineffective and hampers the effectiveness of drones.

I'm not sure whether removing automatic drone movement when there's no waypoint is a good idea, because this does prevent your drone from crashing into a mountain or going low until it crashes into the ground/ocean, etc..

However, there are cases when this is needed, for example when you manually control a quadrotor and hover just slightly above the ground, using a hill as cover, if you switch to the turret to lase a target, suddenly your quadrotor goes up and exposes you.

So, I think there should be button/option to:

1. Lock pitch - this makes your drone keep it's current pitch, this overrides waypoints and may be unsafe. (Crash to the ground, or stall)
2. Altitude lock (controls pitch and collective in quadrotor) - this ensures your quadrotor/drone does not go higher or lower than it currently is.
3. Lock roll - self explanatory
4. Lock heading - ensures the plane goes on a specific heading(0 roll and a specific yaw)

yes, this is an autopilot function : maintaining the speed, the direction, and the altitude.

this function should be available in the pilot role mouse menu. (Autopilot ON/OFF). then the user can safely switch to gunner role and has his uav perfectly stable, without risk of crashing, no unexpected uav movements, and greatly reduced effect of camera shaking.