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US Facing Lack of Pilots, Not Planes, in Afghanistan
With the United States in the midst of a crucial surge in Afghanistan, demand for surveillance aircraft is at an all-time high. But after more than a decade of moving toward spy drones, the Air Force is facing a crisis: a lack of pilots with experience flying manned reconnaissance planes.
In response to the war's increasing demands, the Air Force last year activated three MC-12 squadrons, which use a military version of the Hawker Beechcraft Super King Air 350, a lightweight twin turboprop aircraft. The MC-12 Liberty is equipped with a variety of sensors, including full-motion video and a day and night camera.
The Air Force has touted the aircraft's success in tracking down insurgents and disrupting attempts to plant roadside bombs, but officers involved in the program acknowledge that getting enough MC-12 pilots has been a challenge.
Already, the Air Force has run out of qualified volunteers to fly the MC-12s and must now draft pilots into the program. And regardless of whether the pilots volunteer or are assigned, getting them trained and deployed to Afghanistan is no easy task.
"The key here is supply and demand," explains Lt. Col. Rick Berryhill, the MC-12 operations officer, who notes there's essentially been a "15-year lapse" in the Air Force's production of new manned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.
"It was a very shallow pool [of pilots], and we're catching up as quick as possible," Berryhill says. "It takes awhile to recover from that; we're shoving folks out as fast as possible."
Pilots are being trained at Key Field in Meridian, Miss., where the MC-12s are located for now. They arrive for a hectic monthlong training course, and then deploy immediately to Afghanistan for six-month tours. After that, they return to their previous assignments.
This rushed program is a result, in large part, of Pentagon pressure on the Air Force to provide more surveillance aircraft.
"My concern is that our services are still not moving aggressively in wartime to provide resources needed now on the battlefield," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in 2008. "While we have doubled this capability in recent months, it is still not good enough."
The Air Force moved to increase the number of Predator spy drones, but also came up with the MC-12 Liberty, a low-altitude manned fixed-wing aircraft. While a Predator drone may be able to fly longer, the MC-12 can also perform signals intelligence, meaning it can intercept communications.
That ability to combine many different sensors is why one senior Air Force official called it a "Predator on steroids."
But unlike the Predator, which is flown remotely from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, the MC-12 requires a four-person crew on board: two pilots, a sensor operator and a cryptologist, who deciphers the intelligence picked up by the sensors.
Training pilots under such strict time constraints, and getting them deployed on time, has been a challenge. "The problem with the MC-12 is, again, we've only been doing this for year," says Lt. Col. Harlie Bodine, the director of MC-12 operations. "With any new system, there's going to be curve balls thrown at you."
After training, the pilots spend about six months in Afghanistan, and then return to their original assignment. That creates yet another challenge, because the MC-12 squadron then loses those pilots, and the experience they gained in training and operations.
"I'll never see that experience come back," Bodine says.
That problem will be solved in large part once the MC-12s are assigned to a permanent base and have pilots on regular assignments. Half a dozen bases are being considered as permanent homes for the MC-12s.
Perhaps the bigger question is, in the age of drones, do manned aircraft still have something to offer? For Bodine, the answer is a definite yes.
There have been times, he says, when having humans in the cockpit has proved useful, citing a recent incident where a crew member looked out the window of the aircraft and saw a large smoke cloud, which turned out to be a U.S. military convoy that had been ambushed. The MC-12 was able to provide immediate support.
"Would a Predator have been able to do that? Yes, but it would have taken time," Bodine says, noting that for a drone to respond it would mean routing the request from ground forces to a combined air operations center, and then back to pilots located in the United States.
Those involved in the program declined to discuss the specifics of the mission, citing security. But the high demand for the aircraft, they say, is proof of its worth.
"Unfortunately," Bodine says, "we are suffering from a catastrophic success."
US Facing Lack of Pilots, Not Planes, in Afghanistan
With the United States in the midst of a crucial surge in Afghanistan, demand for surveillance aircraft is at an all-time high. But after more than a decade of moving toward spy drones, the Air Force is facing a crisis: a lack of pilots with experience flying manned reconnaissance planes.
In response to the war's increasing demands, the Air Force last year activated three MC-12 squadrons, which use a military version of the Hawker Beechcraft Super King Air 350, a lightweight twin turboprop aircraft. The MC-12 Liberty is equipped with a variety of sensors, including full-motion video and a day and night camera.
The Air Force has touted the aircraft's success in tracking down insurgents and disrupting attempts to plant roadside bombs, but officers involved in the program acknowledge that getting enough MC-12 pilots has been a challenge.
Already, the Air Force has run out of qualified volunteers to fly the MC-12s and must now draft pilots into the program. And regardless of whether the pilots volunteer or are assigned, getting them trained and deployed to Afghanistan is no easy task.
"The key here is supply and demand," explains Lt. Col. Rick Berryhill, the MC-12 operations officer, who notes there's essentially been a "15-year lapse" in the Air Force's production of new manned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.
"It was a very shallow pool [of pilots], and we're catching up as quick as possible," Berryhill says. "It takes awhile to recover from that; we're shoving folks out as fast as possible."
Pilots are being trained at Key Field in Meridian, Miss., where the MC-12s are located for now. They arrive for a hectic monthlong training course, and then deploy immediately to Afghanistan for six-month tours. After that, they return to their previous assignments.
This rushed program is a result, in large part, of Pentagon pressure on the Air Force to provide more surveillance aircraft.
"My concern is that our services are still not moving aggressively in wartime to provide resources needed now on the battlefield," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in 2008. "While we have doubled this capability in recent months, it is still not good enough."
The Air Force moved to increase the number of Predator spy drones, but also came up with the MC-12 Liberty, a low-altitude manned fixed-wing aircraft. While a Predator drone may be able to fly longer, the MC-12 can also perform signals intelligence, meaning it can intercept communications.
That ability to combine many different sensors is why one senior Air Force official called it a "Predator on steroids."
But unlike the Predator, which is flown remotely from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, the MC-12 requires a four-person crew on board: two pilots, a sensor operator and a cryptologist, who deciphers the intelligence picked up by the sensors.
Training pilots under such strict time constraints, and getting them deployed on time, has been a challenge. "The problem with the MC-12 is, again, we've only been doing this for year," says Lt. Col. Harlie Bodine, the director of MC-12 operations. "With any new system, there's going to be curve balls thrown at you."
After training, the pilots spend about six months in Afghanistan, and then return to their original assignment. That creates yet another challenge, because the MC-12 squadron then loses those pilots, and the experience they gained in training and operations.
"I'll never see that experience come back," Bodine says.
That problem will be solved in large part once the MC-12s are assigned to a permanent base and have pilots on regular assignments. Half a dozen bases are being considered as permanent homes for the MC-12s.
Perhaps the bigger question is, in the age of drones, do manned aircraft still have something to offer? For Bodine, the answer is a definite yes.
There have been times, he says, when having humans in the cockpit has proved useful, citing a recent incident where a crew member looked out the window of the aircraft and saw a large smoke cloud, which turned out to be a U.S. military convoy that had been ambushed. The MC-12 was able to provide immediate support.
"Would a Predator have been able to do that? Yes, but it would have taken time," Bodine says, noting that for a drone to respond it would mean routing the request from ground forces to a combined air operations center, and then back to pilots located in the United States.
Those involved in the program declined to discuss the specifics of the mission, citing security. But the high demand for the aircraft, they say, is proof of its worth.
"Unfortunately," Bodine says, "we are suffering from a catastrophic success."
US Facing Lack of Pilots, Not Planes, in Afghanistan
