More UAV Squadrons

The Strategy Page ^ | 11/07/2009 | The Strategy Page

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Last month, the U.S. Air Force created four new UAV squadrons (29th Attack Squadron, 6th Reconnaissance Squadron, 16th Training Squadron and 849th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron). All these new units are actually training squadrons. The air force is training 220 operator crews (each with a pilot and one or two sensor operators) a year. In two years, this will increase to 400 a year, which will enable the air force to run 50 CAPs (Combat Air Patrol; UAVs in the air over a combat zone) simultaneously. The large number of new crews are needed because the pilots only operate UAVs for three years, before going back to manned aircraft.

It was only two years ago that the U.S. Air Force formed the first UAV Wing (the 432nd). The Wing began with six Predator and one maintenance squadrons. Each Predator squadron has at least twelve UAVs, and sometimes as many as 24. Squadrons sometimes have over 400 personnel and 24 aircraft. But the air force prefers to keep them smaller (12 aircraft and about 200 airmen).

Only about two thirds of those troops go overseas with the UAVs. The rest stay behind in the United States, and fly the Predators via a satellite link. When in a combat zone, each Predator averages up to 200 hours in the air each month. Each aircraft flies 6-10 sorties (also known as CAPs) a month, each one lasting 15-25 hours.

[Bryanw92]

It just boggles my mind that a nation that can build this kind of awesomeness can elect a pathetic clown like Obama to be President.

John Edwards was right. There really is two Americas.

[Jet Jaguar]

Ping.

[MSF BU]

Well I guess we know where the career opportunities are in the Air Force. And to think when I went joined the military missileers were the thing to be!

[TXnMA]

Is the USAF still requiring that UAV pilots be genuine "winged" pilot officers?

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I bet there are "video-game nerd" teens who could blow most such pilots' pants off...

When they field UACVs with F-22 flight performance capabilities (and no human "G" limitations) that will be an unbelievably deadly combination...

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Are you going to the 2012 celebrations of the Cuban Missile Crisis at Malmstom AFB?

[mohresearcher]

We don’t hear as much about Preadator attacks in Afghanistan these days. Anybody know if we have voluntarily cut back on UAV flights?

[TalonDJ]

I bet there are "video-game nerd" teens who could blow most such pilots' pants off...

I doubt it. I have done a lot of gaming and I have found the teen gamers are not as good at making complicated tactical decisions in real time. They are mainly just fast at pressing memorized button combinations. Force a player to make complicated decisions very rapidly and twenty and thirty-something players cream them.

[TXnMA]

"Force a player to make complicated decisions very rapidly and twenty and thirty-something players cream them."

I'm no gamer -- so that is an interesting input...

[TalonDJ]

It is kind of an interesting datapoint isn't it? Since it is against the anecdotal ‘conventional wisdom’.