http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/...r-operators-and-maintainers-reapers/76624190/
Faced with an ongoing shortage of remotely piloted aircraft operators and the need to train more RPA pilots, the Air Force is hiring civilian contractor pilots, sensor operators and maintainers for MQ-9 Reapers, officials said.
The contractors are only involved with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, said Maj. Genieve David, a spokeswoman for Air Combat Command.
“Those intelligence collection missions do not involve an airstrike,” David said in an email Tuesday to Air Force Times. “Therefore, these missions will not involve engaging targets or lasing targets.”
David stressed that Air Combat Command already uses contractors in support of RPA operations, so the latest move “represents an expansion, rather than a fundamental change” in contractor support.
The planning and execution of the contractor missions will fall under the same oversight as missions flown by military aircrews, she said.
“The resulting sensor information will be collected, analyzed, transmitted and stored as appropriate by the same military intelligence units,” David said. “This information only addresses RPA lines flown by the U.S. Air Force — specifically ACC. We can't speak for other organizations that conduct RPA operations.”
In May, the Air Force announced it was reducing the number of combat air patrols that RPA pilots fly from 65 to 60 per day because the RPA community had been operating at a “pace [that] cannot be sustained without accepting risk,” Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Karns said at the time.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James also indicated that the service would hire contractors to augment RPA operators in a May 19 news release.
“Contractors can help support the insatiable demand for ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] capability,” Karns said in an email Wednesday to Air Force Times. “While contractors are restricted to ISR only, their services allow for an increased capability to understand adversary patterns of life and a complex global environment. Contractors are not shooters; however, they can help meet constant combatant commander ISR demands without adding additional responsibilities to a stressed force.”
Several contractors are working as instructor pilots at the Launch and Recovery School at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada; and the Formal Training Unit at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, Karns said. Contractors also serve in operations support roles within squadrons, such as schedulers and evaluators.
Now the Air Force plans to hire civilian contractors to fly and maintain government-owned RPAs for 10 combat air patrols per day in addition to the 60 flown by the Air Force, said service spokeswoman Ann Stefanek.
In June, the Air Force awarded two contracts for a total of $28.3 million for the first two combat patrols, said Stefanek, who declined to identify the companies that won the contracts due to security concerns.
The Los Angeles Times, which first reported the story on Nov. 27, identified the companies as General Atomics and Aviation Unmanned, but Stefanek could not confirm that information.
With multiple war zones and hot spots around the world, the Defense Department’s demand for aerial reconnaissance has been insatiable, so RPA operators often fly six or seven days a week. That means they don’t have time for professional military education and are often promoted less often than fighter, bomber and mobility pilots.
Faced with an ongoing shortage of remotely piloted aircraft operators and the need to train more RPA pilots, the Air Force is hiring civilian contractor pilots, sensor operators and maintainers for MQ-9 Reapers, officials said.
The contractors are only involved with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, said Maj. Genieve David, a spokeswoman for Air Combat Command.
“Those intelligence collection missions do not involve an airstrike,” David said in an email Tuesday to Air Force Times. “Therefore, these missions will not involve engaging targets or lasing targets.”
David stressed that Air Combat Command already uses contractors in support of RPA operations, so the latest move “represents an expansion, rather than a fundamental change” in contractor support.
The planning and execution of the contractor missions will fall under the same oversight as missions flown by military aircrews, she said.
“The resulting sensor information will be collected, analyzed, transmitted and stored as appropriate by the same military intelligence units,” David said. “This information only addresses RPA lines flown by the U.S. Air Force — specifically ACC. We can't speak for other organizations that conduct RPA operations.”
In May, the Air Force announced it was reducing the number of combat air patrols that RPA pilots fly from 65 to 60 per day because the RPA community had been operating at a “pace [that] cannot be sustained without accepting risk,” Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Karns said at the time.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James also indicated that the service would hire contractors to augment RPA operators in a May 19 news release.
“Contractors can help support the insatiable demand for ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] capability,” Karns said in an email Wednesday to Air Force Times. “While contractors are restricted to ISR only, their services allow for an increased capability to understand adversary patterns of life and a complex global environment. Contractors are not shooters; however, they can help meet constant combatant commander ISR demands without adding additional responsibilities to a stressed force.”
Several contractors are working as instructor pilots at the Launch and Recovery School at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada; and the Formal Training Unit at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, Karns said. Contractors also serve in operations support roles within squadrons, such as schedulers and evaluators.
Now the Air Force plans to hire civilian contractors to fly and maintain government-owned RPAs for 10 combat air patrols per day in addition to the 60 flown by the Air Force, said service spokeswoman Ann Stefanek.
In June, the Air Force awarded two contracts for a total of $28.3 million for the first two combat patrols, said Stefanek, who declined to identify the companies that won the contracts due to security concerns.
The Los Angeles Times, which first reported the story on Nov. 27, identified the companies as General Atomics and Aviation Unmanned, but Stefanek could not confirm that information.
With multiple war zones and hot spots around the world, the Defense Department’s demand for aerial reconnaissance has been insatiable, so RPA operators often fly six or seven days a week. That means they don’t have time for professional military education and are often promoted less often than fighter, bomber and mobility pilots.
