Roger That: Air Force drone pilots can qualify for $125,000 retention bonus

As the Air Force scrambles to hold on to drone pilots to help feed the military’s ravenous need for more intelligence, the service is for the first time offering them critical skills retention bonuses of $125,000 if they agree to serve five more years, according to Air Force Times.

In a Tuesday release, the Air Force said that 18X RPA pilots who have accumulated six years of aviation service after completing their undergraduate RPA pilot training — meaning their obligation is expiring — are eligible for the bonus of five annual installments of $25,000. They also have the option of receiving 50 percent of the bonus up front, the Air Force said.

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Security in Afghanistan is deteriorating, violence is increasing, and the Islamic State has become “operationally emergent” in the country’s east, though insurgents have not been able to exert lasting control over any major population centers, the Pentagon says in a new report, according to Military.com.

The document, titled “Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan,” comes as a crucial time, as it assesses the Afghan forces and the Taliban in the past summer fighting season, when coalition troops were largely absent from the battlefield.

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Military.com is also reporting that Defense Secretary Ash Carter met with Iraqi leaders and his commanders Wednesday on an unannounced war zone visit aimed at broadening U.S. assistance to Iraq to defeat the Islamic State group.

The Obama administration has been talking for days about “accelerating” the fight against IS, but that effort is complicated because there is some Iraqi reluctance to having a greater U.S. footprint in the country.

Those concerns could affect whether Iraqi leaders agree to allow the U.S. to send Apache attack helicopters and more troops into the fight.

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In the ongoing Battle for Ramadi, an Iraqi Security Force CH-4 drone attacked an Islamic State artillery position on Dec. 6. This is the first documented use of a Chinese-made armed drone in Iraq, according to Popular Science magazine.

The CH-4, built by Chinese Aerospace and Technology Corporation, is a medium altitude, long endurance drone with a payload of 350kg. Previously, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense released an October video showcasing its CH-4 drones, in a propaganda move apparently aimed at rebuilding Iraqi morale in the lead up to the Ramadi operations.

This story was originally published December 16, 2015 at 10:46 AM with the headline "Roger That: Air Force drone pilots can qualify for $125,000 retention bonus."