Worried by a shortage of UAV pilots, the Air Force is beefing up UAV crew training. The service will spend more than $100 million in additional simulators and contract instructors, as well as six next-generation ground control stations, according to an Air Force news release. Other planned improvements include better UAV software and accelerating the development of automatic takeoff and landing capability.
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UAV training will also take a shortcut, with about 80 Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) graduates directly assigned over the next 12 month months to UAV squadrons, rather than through the UAV training pipeline. At the same time, the pipeline will see a rise in the number of UAV-trained pilots from 190 graduates per year to 300.
The Air Force last placed a UPT graduate directly into the RPA career field in 2011, the Air Force noted.
UAV pilots who remain in the service will be eligible for a $15,000 annual retention bonus.
