WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the United States military prepares for a possible mission against Iraq, the Air Force is facing a new challenge, a wire service reported.
How to attract — and satisfy — pilots who would rather strap themselves into a cockpit and punch holes in the sky at Mach speeds, than sit in a trailer watching a video to guide an unmanned plane.
Pentagon officials say the remotely piloted Predator would probably play a critical role in locating Mr Saddam Hussein’s chemical or biological weapons – in particular mobile laboratories.
The military aviation culture is resisting this change.
But Air Force Secretary James Roche is ordering a change in regulations so that time spent guiding a Predator counts as flight time when calculating pay raises and promotions.
‘These are pioneers, and we won’t punish them for helping us into a new era. Every hour flying a Predator counts as a flight hour.’
Mr Roche said he was aware many pilots had been brought to their Predator teams kicking and screaming.
‘If you’re a young F-15 pilot and you’re sent to a Predator squadron, your first reaction must be, ‘Gosh, who did I offend?’ ‘ he said.
‘For pilots to get their flight pay, they have to make certain ‘gates’ – to have so many hours flying,’ he added.
‘These kids were being pulled out of their squadrons – they’re all successful pilots by the way. We found they weren’t getting the hours towards meeting their gates. And so I changed that.’
Throughout the armed services, fleets of unmanned aerial vehicles are budgeted to expand. But there is continuing shortages in surveillance of the combat zone – both in vehicles and pilots.
The air force has just under 100 pilots assigned to the Predator programme. Mr Roche said it had considered assigning non-pilots to Predators, by training a new generation of technician-operators.
But this was rejected because it was believed the pilot corps brought maturity, better training, combat calm and, no doubt, a sense of tradition.
‘I wanted to have pilots fly the Predator,’ he said. ‘If you try to stand up people who are not pilots, it is like an organ transplant, and I’m afraid the body might reject them.’
The Predator, which looks like a slow-flying, upside-down spoon, was one of the experimental weapons that aced its tests in Afghanistan.
They were flown by pilots hundreds of kilometres away as they spotted targets, designated them for attack and even launched missiles.
An officer who mastered the aircraft was chosen to track Taleban and Al-Qaeda leadership, but was so concerned that this would limit her pilot career that the air force arranged a meeting with Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who thanked her for her service.