An unmanned aerial vehicle variable autonomy control system is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the system includes a control mode interface that provides a plurality of selectable control modes for an unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein one of the plurality of selectable control modes comprises a target tracking mode. Also included is a target editor interface provided in response to a selection of the target tracking mode, wherein the target editor interface facilitates receipt of an input indicative of a ground based moving target. The system also includes a communications component that transmits a command to the unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein the command is based at least in part on the input indicative of a target.