Increasing number of civilians work in the UAS kill chain

The heavy involvement of contractor personnel in the operations of unmanned aircraft systems is being questioned by top military officials, reports the Los Angeles Times.

About a half dozen defense contractors are providing the assistance of technical personnel to the Air Force, special operations units and the CIA to plug personnel gaps that have arisen in the wake of the rapidly expanding use of UAS for reconnaissance and strike missions, the newspaper said.

The Air Force faces an uphill battle for qualified personnel as it struggles to train and field sufficient personnel to competently fly the unmanned vehicles, scrutinize the enormous amounts of data gathered from cameras and sensors, and to maintain the heavily used aircraft, the Times said.