Exclusive: U.S. Drone Fleet at ‘Breaking Point,’ Air Force Says
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In other words, the Air Force is saying that its drone force has been stretched to its limits. Its at the breaking point, and has been for a long time, a senior service official told The Daily Beast. Whats different now is that the band-aid fixes are no longer working.
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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 squadronscalled Formal Training Units (FTU)are being staffed with less than half the people they need. Even the Air Forces elite Weapons Schoolthe services much more extensive and in-depth version of the Navys famous Top Gun schoolcourse 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
CJCRANE
(18,184 posts)Why can't we build stuff that helps everyone?
You know, like new infrastructure and new power sources.