The Army and Air Force have problems with training UAV crews, according to the Government Accountability Office.
With the Army, the GAO review found that most UAV pilots in Army units had not completed their fundamental training in fiscal 2014. Because Army unit status reports do not require UAS pilot training information,the Army does not know just how much training its pilots still have not received.
Resource: Read the GAO report
For the Air Force, GAO found that only 35 percent of pilots completed the training for all required missions. "Pilots in all of the seven focus groups GAO conducted with Air Force UAS pilots stated that they could not conduct training in units because their units had shortages of UAS pilots," the report noted.
The Air Force lacks enough instructor pilots; training squadrons at Holloman Air Force Base had only 63 percent of their required staff as of last March. Meanwhile, the Army is waiving required courses for its instructors. However, the Army "has not fully addressed the risks associated with using less experienced instructors," GAO said.
