Five unmanned aerial vehicle pilots are about one-third of the way through the first Weapons School course for those at the controls of the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper. The course, taught at the Weapons School headquartered at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, started in January and ends in June. The Air Force delayed start-up of the course last summer as it rushed to increase missions flown over Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead of giving lectures and flying training sorties, the pilots went on operational missions and taught airmen new to UAVs.

“All of our staff instructors got to go on air expeditionary force deployments to support the surge,” said Major Joe Campo, the 26th Weapons Squadron’s director of operations. Besides UAVs, the instructors and students have flown other aircraft. Campo was an F-16 Weapons School instructor. Squadron commander Lt. Col. Daniel Turner flew AC-130 gunships. Maj. Mike Stolley, one of the students, is a former F-16 pilot who now doubles as the squadron’s chief of training. The UAV course starts with two weeks of academics, then mixes in 25 training flights and five missions in simulators for each student. The flights combine the UAV’s attack and surveillance roles, the instructors said. One flight focuses on tracking down and destroying a mobile missile launcher.

Many flights are flown in tandem with students from other courses. For example, a Predator flies with an F-16. In June, all Weapons School students come together for a two-week exercise called the “mission engagement phase.” After Stolley and his colleagues graduate — each pilot already has more than 1,000 hours flying UAVs — they will become the squadron’s initial cadre of instructors, Campo said. The instructors are supported by enlisted sensor operators who sit with the student pilots at the control console. Air Force policy allows only officers to attend the Weapons School, so there aren’t student sensor operators enrolled in the UAV course. Like the instructors, the sensor operators who are staff members are experienced aviators hand-picked to work at the Weapons School. The long-term goal is for eight students a year to complete the UAV course. The class starting in July reflects the demand for weapons officers. Two students are from Air Combat Command units, one is from Air Force Special Operations Command and another from the Air National Guard.

(Source: Air Force Times, Bruce Rolfsen — Photos: Top—MQ-1 Predator. Bottom—MQ-9 Reaper— courtesy U.S.A.F.)