First UK airmen qualify to pilot drones

Four British airmen have become the first to officially qualify as pilots of drone aircraft.

The RAF announced in December last year that it was creating a specialised flying branch for personnel flying the unmanned drones, known as remotely-piloted air systems or RPAS.

And in the first graduation ceremony of its kind, the four RAF pilots have now been presented with specialist pilot badges at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.

As a sub-specialisation within the RAF Flying Branch, those who qualify are known as RPAS pilots and will wear a RPAS pilot badge. The badge differs only slightly from the design of the current RAF pilot badge by having blue laurel leaves to identify the specialisation.

The RAF's Deputy Commander-in-Chief-Operations, Air Marshal Richard Garwood, awarded the first badges to the newly qualified RPAS pilots.

He said: "This first graduation of RPAS pilots makes clear not only the RAF's commitment to this pivotal technology, but the associated need to produce highly qualified pilots devoted to fully exploiting RPAS capabilities now and in the future."

The RAF has two RPAS Squadrons; 39 Squadron currently based at Creech Air Force Base, and 13 Squadron, which is based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire.

The RAF currently flies the Reaper MQ-9 Remotely piloted aircraft, which can be armed but are used primarily for real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support and are an integral part of the RAF's airpower capability, complementing its manned aircraft.

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