The Air Force is asking Congress to expand its drone program over the next five years to better meet mission demands and give its overworked drone pilots a break, according to reports.
The Air Force’s $3 billion plan would add up to 3,500 new pilots, doubling the force, and add 75 more General Atomics Reaper drones, adding to the current fleet of 175 Reapers and 150 of the smaller Predator drones, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
“Right now, 100 percent of the time, when a MQ-1 or MQ-9 crew goes in, all they do is combat,” Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, head of Air Combat Command, said in the article, referring to crews that operate the Reaper and Predator drones. “So we really have to build the capacity.”
The plan would also build five new drone operation centers, likely in California, Arizona, Hawaii and Virginia, and at Creech Air Force Base about an hour outside Las Vegas, from which most drone operations are conducted today.
Having more bases could give pilots the ability to hand off missions to crews in different time zones, as well as give them more flexibility on where they could be assigned, according to the article.
The proposal is designed to give pilots in one of the most in-demand specialties a little breathing room and a better quality of life. Pilots operate drones more than 900 hours every year, or about three times more than fighter pilots, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said earlier this month.
James, who previewed the changes during a National Press Club luncheon, said the service has already taken some steps to alleviate the pressure on drone pilots, whose operational tempo has soared even higher with the fight against the Islamic State. The Pentagon has cut back on the number of daily combat air patrols performed by the Air Force, increased incentive pay for drone pilots, and will be giving responsibility for some surveillance flights to contractors.
“We’re also looking at some approaches that are designed to address this grueling schedule that many of our airmen are maintaining. And if we can get that done correctly that will allow for a little bit more time off as well as some professional development opportunity for this category of airmen over time,” James said.
The Air Force’s requests for changes to the drone program will need to be approved by Congress, but lawmakers so far have been eager to help the service improve its recruitment and retention for these in-demand airmen. This year’s National Defense Authorization Act included an increase in incentive pay for drone pilots from $25,000 to $35,000, according to a report from Air Force Times.
The service also has 60 days from the day the bill was signed to submit a report to Congress on how to fix any undermanning problems in the drone community, the Times said.
