Tag Archives: UAV

Is There a Cultural Shift Occurring in the Air Force?

The culture of the Air Force is in many ways like high school. Fighter pilots are the jocks, the cool kids who rule the campus. And drone pilots? They’re the AV club.

As has been frequently said here (and as described in the book), the stereotype is that Air Force fighter pilots are the glorious rulers of the Air Force.  A Stars and Stripes article says that the Air Force cultural dominance of the fighter pilot may be at an end, just as the dominance of strategic nuclear bombers passed on to fighters decades ago.

While the dominance of the fighter pilot may be fading in some people’s estimation, the cultural stereotype lives on:  Read more

Communities Vie for, Oppose Hosting F-35

When it was first constructed, Luke Air Force Base was well outside of the small town that would eventually become bustling Phoenix, Arizona.  Now Luke suffers from a severe case of encroachment, with occupied houses literally right off the end of the runway.  That encroachment, reflected at many bases across the country, has led to noise complaints and community actions that have impacted the flight operations at major military bases.

Now the Tucson community, just south of Luke, is one among several that is weighing the pros and cons of trying to become host to a major F-35 training base.  Tucson hosts Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, the current location of A-10 training.  The good part of the F-35: Such a training base would likely be a boon to the local economy.  The problem: Read more

US Fighter Shoots Down Friendly

Over at War is Boring, David Axe, a civilian war correspondent, notes the unique history of a particular F-15E Strike Eagle.  The fighter has a star and a Sidewinder stamped on its side, indicating two very unique air-to-air kills.

The star is from a kill in Operation Desert Storm.  Nearly 20 years ago, that aircraft dropped a bomb on an airborne helicopter in Iraq.

The Sidewinder is from an unofficially reported shootdown of a friendly Reaper UAV just last month.  According to Aviation Week (sometimes called “Aviation Leak” Read more

UAV Operators Get Wings, Flight Pay

A previous post noted that the Air Force graduated UAV pilots who had no prior flight experience.  More recently, the Air Force announced [updated link] that those pilots will wear the following wings, designed by public affairs Staff Sergeant Austin May in the UK:

(By comparison, you can see traditional Air Force pilot wings in the ChristianFighterPilot logo.)  The wings were awarded to the first class that just graduated.  This is not an insignificant step for the Air Force, which is characterized by a culture that closely guards those who it permits to wear wings.  The Air Force also announced that the UAS pilots Read more

Air Force Graduates First non-Pilot Pilots

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”  Read more

UAV Pilots to Outnumber Fighter/Bomber Pilots

The Washington Post picks up on the news mentioned a few months ago that the Air Force will train more unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) pilots this year than fighter or bomber pilots.  (The Post gets the headline wrong; the comparison is not to all pilots, as it does not include cargo, transport, or other airframes.)  General Stephen Lorenz, commander of the Air Education and Training Command, repeated the comment last Friday.

In an interesting conclusion to the article, Lt. Gen. David Deptula, Air Force deputy chief of staff for ISR, commented:

Will the unmanned aircraft ever completely replace either bombers or fighters? In delivering weapons on target, Deptula said, “Yes, you bet.” But when it comes to controlling airspace, flying against enemy fighters, the general said, the technology cannot yet achieve 360-degree awareness. A human brain is still superior in the assimilation of information and responding to it.

UAV Trainees Outnumber Combat Pilot Trainees

According to the Air Force Times, the Air Force will train more UAV pilots than fighter/bomber pilots this year.  While the current number of fighter and bomber pilots still dwarfs the number of UAV pilots, the Air Force will train 240 UAV pilots, though only 214 fighter and bomber pilots, this year.

The article does not distinguish between Predator and Global Hawk UAVs, which might be a similar distinction between fighter/bomber and airlift/tanker pilots.

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