A dialog processing method and apparatus for uninhabited air vehicles is described. The apparatus contains a recognition unit for recognizing incoming data, an interpretation unit for interpreting the data according to a grammar and a response unit for generating an appropriate response to the incoming data. The method may utilize natural language processes and may reduce to a finite state machine. The incoming data is combined with uninhabited air vehicle state information to increase the accuracy of this interpretation. Additionally, the dialog states may be limited to customary air traffic control dialogs.