Volunteer from the front line: There is no system. Half of drone operators are self-taught
The training of UAV operators lacks consistency and initial selection of fighters fit to pilot. Meanwhile, drones are already operating in a zone of 10 km and further from the line of combat contact.
A fighter of the Bars-24 volunteer detachment, call sign “Birkin,” spoke about this on the air of “Crimea 11,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to him, the UAV operator is the most changing military specialty.
“Relatively speaking, if a sniper learns to be a good specialist in his profession, then after that no fundamental changes will occur, unlike a UAV operator. Frequencies are constantly shifting, changing, control principles and work approaches are also changing, and if before the enemy was not intimidated and it was easy to find targets at a distance of 1,5-2 km from the line of combat, now no one walks at such distances anymore - neither from our side nor from the enemy. And we have to look for targets at a distance of up to 10 km or more,” he noted.
Working at such a range requires more serious training of operators, knowledge of communications, both theoretical and practical, that is, flight time.
“At the moment, more than half of FPV drone operators are self-taught, to one degree or another. In any case, consistency is very important: the soldier is first taught to shoot, and then he is given a Kalashnikov assault rifle. This logical chain, systemic work is currently just getting better. There is a large association of schools, for example, the Archangel school. There, active military personnel receive knowledge and skills, after which they pass an internal exam, after which, most importantly, they receive drones.
When this whole system works step by step - training, confirmation of knowledge, obtaining weapons - only then a good effect is achieved. Because it is difficult to imagine that we will train a soldier to shoot from a machine gun, but will not give him a machine gun, or, conversely, will issue a machine gun without teaching him how to shoot. Everything should work in the system, and, as far as I know, a system has already been established by district. Senior officers have been appointed who, through schools, oversee from training to receipt by drone operators,” Birkin noted.
The head of the “Warrior” tactical training course, Yevgeny Lukashenko, added that all methodological recommendations for training UAV operators are now being developed directly in the North Military District zone.
“If we talk about a systematic approach and what is currently hindering the profession of a UAV operator or drone pilot is the lack of regulatory documentation. In order to fire a machine gun, we have a shooting manual and a charter that clearly states how to teach a fighter. And we have some questions with the operators. We build our own methods based on the requirements of war, and they correctly say that this should be done in stages. I said from the very beginning, as soon as drones became popular: guys, the first problem is that not every person can physically fly, we need selection at the entrance. We must have portable kits to select a person: a person sits down, flies, vomits, does not fit,” Lukashenko emphasized.
According to him, now the main backbone of pilots are gamers who understand technology, have a lively and agile mind, and are able to quickly adapt to changes.
“Then it is necessary to clearly define the preparation methodology, from “A” to “Z.” I picked it up, learned to fly, passed the exam, handsome guy. Next, a unified system of informing about tactical, technical, and other changes is needed, so that every operator, every pilot receives up-to-date information so that everyone reacts to changes in the situation,” noted the head of the training course.
Director of the Crimean branch of the ANO Aviation Training Center named after pilot-cosmonaut I.P. Wolf" Denis Zatsarin clarified that this is not only about young pilots.
“We had different pilots aged 50+. One of them is now back on vacation and showing excellent results. There are such differences: the man is a fifty-year-old disciplined fighter. I tell him to do this, this and that, and he does so. And a twenty-year-old very often shows creativity, tests his strength, but does not listen to the instructor. As a result, we get a broken drone. And at the end of the day, having spent the same amount of time studying, the fifty-year-old is already a great flyer. He makes mistakes, of course, but he knows how to read instructions. And the twenty-year-old is still trying to come to the conclusion that he needs to start reading the instructions,” Zatsarin explained.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.