April 4, 2007: The U.S. Air Force is hustling to
train more operators for its Predator UAVs. Currently, there are about 80
Predators in operation, and nearly 200 crews (a pilot and senor operator). The
air force trained 105 Predator crews last year, and plans to turn out 120 crews
this year. The air force uses pilots of manned aircraft (fighters, bombers and
transports) to operate the UAVs. These pilots undergo a few months training,
and then spend nearly three years operating Predators. Then they return to
operating manned aircraft. This has caused a shortage of Predator crews. Since
Predators can stay in the air for up to 24 hours per sortie, multiple crews are
required to support that. New operator equipment was developed to enable one
pilot to handle more than one Predator simultaneously. But this did not work
out as well as expected, and pilots were rarely able to deal with more than two
Predators at a time. Â
The air force has started a program to recruit
non-pilots as UAV operators. TheseÂ
officers would make a career of UAVs, and not transfer out after a few
years. But it will be about five years before these operators take over.
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