The US Air Force is unable to take care of with a growing demand for pilots able to operating drones, partly as a consequence of a shortage of volunteers, in step with a brand new study.
Despite the significance put on the burgeoning robotic fleet, drone operators face a scarcity of opportunities for promotion to raised ranks and the army has did not identify and cultivate this new category of aviators, Air Force Colonel Bradley Hoagland wrote inside the report published for the Brookings Institution think tank.
In 2012, the Air Force had a goal to coach 1,129 “traditional” pilots and 150 drone pilots to function Predator, Reaper and Global Hawk robotic aircraft.
But the Air Force “was unable to fulfill its RPA (remotely piloted aircraft) training requirements since there have been not enough volunteers,” the report said.
As of last year, the Air Force has 1,300 drone pilots, making up about 8.5 percent of the force’s aviators, in comparison to 3.3 percent four years later.
The fleet of unmanned aircraft includes 152 Predators, 96 Reapers and 23 Global Hawks, that’s big enough to fly 61 combat air patrols.
The military measures air power in relation to combat air patrols, or CAPs, that are purported to provide 24-hour air coverage over a delegated area. It typically takes three or four drones to make up a combat air patrol.
But goals for expanding the patrols are increasing “at a faster pace than the AF (Air Force) can train personnel to function these systems,” the study said.
One of the criteria behind the shortfall is a high rate of attrition one of the drone operators, that’s 3 times higher than for standard pilots, it said.
Another factor is the extreme tempo of operations for drone missions during the last decade.
The constant drone flights mean operators, unlike their counterparts in other specialities, lack the time for extra education and coaching to score a better rank, undercutting their career prospects, the writer wrote.
The problem is reflected in a 13 percent lower promotion rate to the rank of major during the last five years, in comparison to other military fields.
The fewer variety of promotions is likewise fed by an army culture that also doesn’t fully appreciate the talents of drone pilots, Hoagland said.
“One of the controversies surrounding their historical loss of high level recognition is the perspective that RPA pilots weren’t risking their lives while operating their aircraft 7,000 miles away in Nevada,” he wrote.
In a bid to offer them more recognition, the Pentagon in February created a brand new “Distinguished Warfare Medal” for pilots of drones or digital specialists who affect the battle at a remote distance.
But two months later, within the face of an outcry from veterans groups, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel scrapped the medal, which have been placed relatively high within the hierarchy of military honors.
Instead, a tool might be attached to existing medals to acknowledge the brand new-era warriors.
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