Ditto, on it not really helping the RPA manning situation and I just don't see it working very well, just my opinion but for these missions a multi-crew aircraft works best. Can't speak to the talent level as I have never been in a MQ-9 squadron but that is UFB on the level of training 18X'ers, you said dudes were getting 10 hours in MQT then on their own, has that improved?
Yikes, 70 CAPs coinciding with the first group's ADSC expiring? Fire meet gasoline...
No, that's the MQT syllabus for you. Because of the manning problems and lack of training capacity, training is cut short at every corner. Undergraduate, FTU, MQT, and CT. Some of the guys that get to the squadron have the smarts, just no experience with aviation so they take time to develop.
You know the theory that some people might develop into good pilots if they had 60 weeks of UPT instead of 53, but we only have training resources for 53 weeks so tough luck? It's like that, but with 20 weeks of training and we're graduating you anyway so good luck CAF.