WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On May 14, 2015, the Government Accountability Office report stated that US Army and Air Force need to upgrade training of military drones' operators. The report also noted that the US Army does not understand the extent to which its own pilots are insufficiently prepared for deployment.
“We urge you to focus senior leaders in the Department [of Defense] on these issues, and develop and implement a coherent UAS organizational, manpower and training strategy.”
McCain and Reed called the lack of standardized program for drone pilots unacceptable.
They argued a training strategy would ensure “combatant commanders get the highly trained and proficient operators of these systems they need to protect [US] warfighters and defeat adversaries.”
The US military has been increasingly reliant on drones to conduct operations in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Syria and Iraq. Critics, however, have slammed use of drones as being responsible for killing a significant number of civilians and destroying infrastructure unrelated to terrorists.
