If you’ve ever wanted to fly a drone, odds are good you’re about to get a chance.
Airmen will see more opportunities in the future to become remotely piloted aircraft operators as the Air Force expands the field and boosts education.
The Air Force is looking for more RPA personnel to try to address the high tempo and low morale that have plagued the field as field commanders request more and more intelligence flights. In December, Air Combat Command said they want to add between 2,500 and 3,500 airmen to RPA operations to augment the 1,700 estimated current pilots, operators, communications and intelligence officials.
The service is looking at increasing incentives and pay, too. Airmen who agree to re-up as a pilot in the 18X Air Force specialty code for five or more years could be looking at a $125,000 retention bonus.
“There’s no other part of the Air Force that has 100 percent of their aircrew, their capability engaged 100 percent of the time,” said Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, leader of Air Combat Command.
“The first thing we had to address was the training pipeline,” Carlisle told a March 16 hearing of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on airland. “We have to grow the enterprise to continue to meet the demand.”
On the pilot side, Carlisle said he currently has about 980 pilots out of a needed 1,100 for combat operations. Ideally, the service wants to boost the total up to 1,400 to give pilots more downtime and opportunity to train.
To try to meet that goal, the 558th Flying Training Squadron on Jan. 11 at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, started training the first 24-person class of future RPA controllers.
That’s double the previous typical class size of 12 — and it’s a trend that’s going to continue. Starting in May, every class will be 24 people. And with the school aiming for 16 classes a year, that could mean 334 new RPA pilots and operators this year and 384 next year.
“If we could get to 384 [a year], we will be making a big dent in the availability of pilots to fully man our crew force,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said at the March 7 State of the Air Force briefing.
The 558th is hiring instructors for the increase as well, looking to boost its number of teachers from 62 up to 104 over the first part of 2016.
“The RPA community as a whole is experiencing manpower issues and there is a need to train more pilots to help ease the overall strain on the career field,” Lt. Col. John Stallworth, 558th FTS commander, said in a February news release.
