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FB: Future hot jobs. The Air Force in coming years will need airmen to fly its drones, protect the cyber domain.
Want to be a part of the Air Force of the future? Be ready to fly drones, or learn to hack.
The hottest future jobs for the Air Force in future will follow the increasing need for cyber forces and the insatiable need for surveillance, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said Wednesday today.
"I think the hot jobs will be probably in the cyber domain, and I think they'll be in (remotely piloted aircraft)," Welsh told reporters today. "We have a great young RPA workforce that is stressed, but is really incredibly capable. And they are excited about their jobs."
The Air Force is trying to increase the training pipeline for drone pilots, with the goal to produce 300 per year to meet its requirement of providing 65 daily combat air patrols for current operations. The service currently is only able to produce 180 pilots per year, and loses 240 pilots per year to cross-training or separations leaving the Air Force entirely.
The service is increasing the number amount of officers who come in directly to fly unmanned aircraft, a change from when the service largely relied on transferring moving pilots from other aircraft into RPA control centers.
"Many of them came in to do this, which is really a change from 10 ten years ago," Welsh said. "They're really excited about the future, and we're going to continue to get those types of people."
There will still be a need for traditional pilots as the Air Force looks to modernize its fleet, with next-generation fighters, bombers and tankers, along with whatever hypothetical aircraft comes along in the future, he said.
"We're going to get the same kind of people we've gotten for years, who are going to fly the F-22, the F-35, the 'X-wing fighter,' " Welsh said, sarcastically hinting at a Star Wars-style aircraft in the service's future fleet. "Those people still want to come do this and we'll still have options for them to do it. I think our core missions are going to be the same in 2035. I don't think they're going to change."
The military also is moving many large amounts of people to the cyber domain, with the Air Force tasked with adding 1,715 airmen for its the service's part of U.S. Cyber Command's mission force teams. The Defense Department is aiming to have 133 cyber mission force teams with 6,000 personnel by 2017.
I think the hot jobs will be probably in the cyber domain, I think they'll be in RPAs. We have a great young RPA workforce that is stressed, but is really incredibly capable. And excited about their jobs.
However, tThe makeup of the service will depend on Capitol Hill, and how lawmakers decide to fund the service. The Air Force wants to update its fleet, but is facing a Congress hesitant to let it retire any aircraft.
"I think some of the systems we have today will still be systems we operate in the Air Force," Welsh said. "And a lot of how the Air Force actually looks will depend on what the budget looks like. … It could look much more robust, it could look much more modern, or it could look a lot like it looks today. And the danger is that we settle for that. That would not be good for us."
