The Air Force has graduated its first class of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) pilots that included officers who had never attended Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT).  That is, they are the first UAV pilots who were not formerly a pilot of some other military aircraft.  The class was composed of 10 pilots and 9 sensor operators.  Eight of the pilots were non-aviators; there is a second similar class in training behind them.

The increasing demand for UAVs in Iraq and Afghanistan–as well as the desire to keep military pilots in cockpits–led to the “experiment” of using non-aviators as UAV operators.

It is unclear if these are simply the first two classes of non-pilot UAV operators, with more in training, or if the Air Force will hold fast and evaluate its results prior to continuing the program.  It seems as though these two classes, described as “beta” classes, are the only ones currently planned.