Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
|
The Air Force will train more drone operators than fighter and bomber pilots combined for the first time this year, signaling a fundamental shift for the 61-year-old service.
The growing ranks of drone operators mark a turning point for the Air Force as it looks to a future that relies increasingly on unmanned aircraft. Over the next few decades, the Air Force plans to develop drones that would serve as fighters, bombers and tankers, the heart of its manned fleet, according to its Unmanned System Update. The document says piloted aircraft will be used in concert with drones…
The Air Force will train 240 pilots to fly Predator and Reaper drones compared with 214 fighter and bomber pilots for the budget year that ends in September. Overall, there are 550 drone pilots compared with 3,700 fighter and 900 bomber pilots. The current emphasis for drones reflects the need for persistent, eye-in-the-sky surveillance to track and kill insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The capability provided by the unmanned aircraft is game-changing,” Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff, told USA TODAY in an e-mailed statement. “We can have eyes 24/7 on our adversaries. The importance of that is clear in the feedback from the ground troops — this is a capability they don’t want to be without.”
Loren Thompson, a military analyst with the Lexington Institute, said intelligence gathering has been a weakness for the Pentagon for years but has improved recently. “The Air Force has now gotten the message that it’s important to be responsive to the war fighters on the ground,” he said.
Will this lessen the number of required fighter and bomber pilots – or simply involve an increased number of gamers/drone pilots? It looks like the reduction has already begun.
So what happens when someone develops a computer AI to run the drones? Sounding more and more like Skynet…
The title is misleading. The aircraft the article is talking about are still piloted remotely. There’s still a human pressing the buttons and deciding when to fire the weapons.
We’re still a few years away from truly “unmanned” aircraft.
Now, drones are the way to go. A different kind of war, could change matters.
Gol, thats really gonna piss off the pilots. No pilot wants to remote fly a drone (time counts differently in the log book), you want to fly a real plane.
Its a dead end job for a pilot.
I like the idea of drones. I wish they had robotic means to search and destroy roadside IED’s in Afghanistan as well.
25,
The way they treat infantry, you’d think they qualified as robots…
# 19 JimR said, “Patrick, why are you blaming Obama for everything.”
Everything? No, just what he is doing? Where did I say “everything”? Or, are you hallucinating?
Either show where I said he’s to blame for everything, or explain why you are delusional…
I sure hope Sarah Connor knows about this.
Currently the drones don’t need a pilot or life support systems. That weight may be compensated for with fuel meaning longer flights.
Because the drone doesn’t need the same expertise to fly, the training isn’t rigorous and the errors not as unforgiven.
Will they ever be used as fighter? They have a long way to go before that. Until then, we will just have to be satisfied with using long range guided missiles.
Cow-Patty,
Can’t you ever quit with the troll responses?
EuroFighter
Can’t you grow up and write like a person?
#18, Scott,
I almost forgot, another fine piece of reporting never found in the MSM. My guess is the right wing nut controlling media barons are hiding the truth from us.
Well actually they do need a Pilot, he/she is just not in the cockpit. They’re controlling the drone from some other place by telepresence. But ther’re qualified pilots pulled from the same pool that fill all the other pilot slots.
Its a bummer job for anyone wanting to be a pilot afterwards as they can’t count it like they were flying any other aircraft. Back when they were first introduced the Air Force had a tough time keeping people in drones, as they would quit if they wouldn’t be put back into a real plane. The AF had to agree to a rotation back out to the regular squadron to keep the pilots from going civilian.
QUOTE — The title is misleading. The aircraft the article is talking about are still piloted remotely. There’s still a human pressing the buttons and deciding when to fire the weapons. We’re still a few years away from truly “unmanned” aircraft.
Cruise missiles have been flying for decades, with considerably more on the line than a recon or fighter aircraft. Pilots are quickly becoming obsolete and there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as our drones are better than theirs. The pilots have always been the most expensive part of the operation anyway.
Sag.
This is the military’s answer to how to optimize the Vietnam War era Body Count and enemy kill ratio metric(s) that began in 1965.
It goes like this:
If no American’s are ever killed in combat, you have a perfect kill ratio.
And
If America has a perfect kill ratio in every combat, then; America should win every WAR.
You can’t beat a country, any country in WAR that has a perfect kill ratio?
#2: The Air Force still uses officers as UAV pilots. It’s the Army you’re thinking of there.
And the thing is, when talking numbers, more likely than not the new pilot training numbers for manned AC are REPLACEMENTS, while the UAV pilot numbers are EXPANSIONS of the field. There’s a key difference there.
The Air Force does not like the change. They like officers and gentlemen to do the flying even when it comes to drones but you get a lot more for you money using drones and the American body bags stay empty.
By the way the Air Force bleeps at this compared to other branches because they don’t want to use things like autopilots to do take offs and landings and lead the pack in crashes.
# 35 deowll said, “and lead the pack in crashes.”
Absolute numbers or, %?
Drones are used in areas where air-superiority has been achieved already. The Predator and Reaper drones are very large radio-controlled aircraft with multi-million $$$ surveillance systems on-board. The drone does not have to take a piss, or land from fatigue. The also operate in areas where it is not possible to operate jet reconnaissance assets, like forward strips and roads. No one in the USAF lands an F-15/F-16 on a road outside of Edwards AFB.
The tech. is headed this way. Positions in future F-22 and F-35 cockpits will become even more competitive. The N/G RQ-4 Global Hawk will replace the U-2/TR-1 fleet in the very near future…
Patrick, are you really that ignorant? “Everything” doesn’t necessarily mean “every thing”. anyone else would understand that “everything”, in the context that I used it, means “all relevant matters” as in… all relevant matters concerning your country’s economic woes and Obama’s supposed failure, as in… the complaint that you introduce to any topic every chance you get.
Number 12 no I haven’t but I am a historian and have nothing but respect for our warriors.
Re:#26, Named, “The way they treat infantry, you’d think they qualified as robots…”
Damn right! They’ll send in a robot to diffuse or destroy a bomb in a city park, but hey… lets send private what’s-his-name down the road with a poking stick to clear the way.