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USAF RPA Articles

dimsum

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Her name is ‘Sparkle.’ She operates a drone. She is sick of whiny boys. And she is perfectly OK with dealing out death.

Interesting article that focuses not only on the job, but the lifestyle of RPA crews in Vegas.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/18/she-kills-people-from-7-850-miles-away.html?source=TDB&via=FB_Page
 
I've always found it fascinating how females are more able to be detached from jobs like that.  As they say, they are the deadliest of the species.  Excellent article Dimsum, thanks.
 
Close enough that I didn't feel it was necessary to start another topic.

Drone operators are licensed pilots. We are not terminators rampaging across the countryside like war’s a video game. We are not heartless; we are not brainless. And we do not like to make mistakes.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/10/drone-pilot-book-213263?o=0
 
Strange that the following article and the first one I posted a month ago seem to be completely different in their ROE.  Either it has changed 180 degrees, or someone is lying. 

"Cowardly murder": Ex-drone operators speak out about their jobs

In an open letter to President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and CIA Director John Brennan, the four former drone operators said they were involved in the killing of innocent civilians, and had gone on to suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"We came to the realization that the innocent civilians we were killing only fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like (the Islamic State group), while also serving as a fundamental recruitment tool," the men wrote.

http://news.yahoo.com/cowardly-murder-ex-drone-operators-speak-jobs-001824335.html
 
Whats odd is that the ROE have prevented attacks on key IS targets due to collateral damage concerns,we just handed the targeting info over to the French to strike.Yet murder is the charge from this drone operator ?
 
5 Big Problems with the Drone Programs

They’re set to destroy the world and start the apocalypse of the machines — but one-hour delivery would be pretty sweet. Combine equal parts fear and hype and you have the current narrative on drones. It’s worthwhile to consider the real and unsolved problems with drones in today’s military in order to paint an accurate picture of the future.

Here are the five big problems with today’s military drones.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/12/10/5-big-problems-with-the-drone-programs/

IMHO, a good summary of the major hurdles and why RPAs aren't the all-singing-all-dancing Skynet. 

Yet.  >:D
 
And speaking of RPA crews:

Will this mean a LOT more containers at Creech AFB for Drone operators?

Defense News

ACC adding thousands of airmen to fly, sustain drones
By Jeff Schogol, Staff writer 6:28 p.m. EST December 10, 2015

The head of Air Combat Command is adding between 2,500 and 3,500 airmen to the remotely piloted aircraft community as part of a series of initiatives to provide some relief to overworked RPA operators, the command announced on Thursday.

The additions would be a significant increase to ACC's current force of about 1,000 RPA pilots from the active-duty force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve as well as 700 active-duty sensor operators.

“Our RPA enterprise was born in combat and recently surpassed 20 years of service, many of which were executed at surge levels," Gen. Hawk Carlisle said in a Thursday news release. "We owe it to our airmen to remove the daily stressors that are responsible for the challenging environment they are operating in.”

(...SNIPPED)

 
Air Force officials announced a new initiative Dec. 17 to enhance the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance mission by integrating enlisted remotely piloted aircraft pilots into the force.

Air Force officials stated a dynamic threat environment calls for innovative approaches to high-demand missions. After careful consideration and with an eye toward potential future force needs, service officials plan to deliberately integrate the enlisted force into flying operations, starting with the RQ-4 Global Hawk....

http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/637192/af-introduces-enlisted-global-hawk-pilots.aspx

About freakin' time.  This is hopefully the first step in an answer to the "why can't NCMs fly" question, and if it happens to be the Global Hawk community that kicks it off, so be it.  It doesn't carry weapons and doesn't have stick/throttle, so there isn't as much to teach in the "hands and feet" or the weapons sense.
 
Meh.  I still like being in the plane, actually flying.  That's me.  Hopefully enough of the kids want to do the UAV gig if we get into it, and I can stay LRP...or maybe go over to do the payload on the new FWSAR... ;D
 
Big necropost, but the previous article shows the context. USAF stops the enlisted RQ-4 Global Hawk pilot scheme.

Air Force opens door for select few from the enlisted ranks to become officers​

The airmen involved in the Air Force’s enlisted drone pilot program have a great shot at becoming officers and remaining pilots if they want to, the top officer and enlisted airman in the service said in a memo on Monday.

Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr., the Air Force chief of staff, and Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne Bass said that if they meet the requirements, enlisted drone pilots “will be offered” a seat at officer training school if they desire to commission. If they get a commission, they could then continue to fly as officer drone pilots or try learning a new aircraft or a new non-aviation career.

On the flipside, if the enlisted drone pilots want to stay enlisted and serve in an aircrew, they “will be offered a career enlisted aviator field path,” or retrain in another field if they want to, the memo wrote.

 
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