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jakeXT

(10,575 posts)
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 03:39 PM Jan 2015

Exclusive: U.S. Drone Fleet at ‘Breaking Point,’ Air Force Says

...

In other words, the Air Force is saying that its drone force has been stretched to its limits. “It’s at the breaking point, and has been for a long time,” a senior service official told The Daily Beast. “What’s different now is that the band-aid fixes are no longer working.”

...

The Air Force has been forced to raid its schools for drone operators to man the operational squadrons that are flying combat missions over places like Iraq and Syria. As a result, training squadrons—called Formal Training Units (FTU)—are being staffed with less than half the people they need. Even the Air Force’s elite Weapons School—the service’s much more extensive and in-depth version of the Navy’s famous Top Gun school—course for drone pilots was suspended in an effort to train new rookie operators.

Overworked drone crews have had their leaves canceled and suffered damage to their careers because they could not attend required professional military education courses.

The result is that drone operators are leaving the Air Force in droves. “Pilot production has been decimated to match the steady demand placed upon the RPA community by keeping ‘all hands’ in the fight,” Carlisle wrote. “Long-term effects of this continued OPSTEMPO are manifested in declining retention among MQ-1/9 pilots, FTU manning at less than 50%, and enterprise-wide pilot manning hovering at about 84%.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/04/exclusive-u-s-drone-fleet-at-breaking-point-air-force-says.html

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Exclusive: U.S. Drone Fleet at ‘Breaking Point,’ Air Force Says (Original Post) jakeXT Jan 2015 OP
What if they gave a war and nobody came? CJCRANE Jan 2015 #1
Can we break it for good? Please? [n/t] Maedhros Jan 2015 #2
Just give the job to Skynet. nt tridim Jan 2015 #3

CJCRANE

(18,184 posts)
1. What if they gave a war and nobody came?
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 03:44 PM
Jan 2015

Why can't we build stuff that helps everyone?

You know, like new infrastructure and new power sources.

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