Reaper the air force recruits to pilot its future armed drones

From the hunt for jihadists in the Sahel to monitoring the national territory, “operations are more and more drone consuming.So we need additional crews, "said Colonel David, Head of Intelligence, Surveillance and Recognition Division (ISR) at the Air Force Staff.

France currently has five American drones Reaper "medium altitude long endurance" (male) and around twenty crews made up of four people: a pilot, a sensors operator, an image operator and an intelligence officer responsible for interpreting theInformation collected.

Deployed at the Niamey air base in Niamey, Niger, three of these drones tirelessly observe armed groups in the Sahel and collect intelligence, up to 24 hours in all discretion, between 7,000 and 13,000 meters above sea level.By the end of the year, they will carry under their wings GBU-12 bombs at laser guidance.

In 2020, Paris will take delivery of six additional armed reaper, a priori also intended for the Sahel, where the anti -Jihadist Barkhane operation has mobilized 4,500 French soldiers since 2014.

In 2017, the Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly announced her decision to provide France with armed drones in 2019, like the United States, Israel or Great Britain.

"80 to 100 crews"

By 2030, "the objective is to go up to 24 machines in total, and to constitute a pool of around 80 to 100 crews", underlines Colonel David.

So far, the army essentially entrusted the controllers of its drones to former hunting pilots.But with the multiplication of missions and the number of drones, the time has come to create a dedicated sector, like the hunting, transport and helicopter sectors.Two thirds of future drone drivers will be trained in this specialty as soon as they arrive in the army.