The U.S. Air Force is taking steps to strengthen and enlarge its remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) corps, which is being stretched by overseas operations. Over the course of a week, the service has announced a series of steps and recommendations affecting crews that operate the RQ-4 Global Hawk and MQ-1/MQ-9 Predators and Reapers.

On December 17, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and chief of staff Gen. Mark Welsh III announced that enlisted personnel will now be accepted to fly the Global Hawk, giving them responsibility for an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) mission previously reserved for officers. The leaders directed the Air Combat Command to develop an implementation plan over the next six months addressing entry requirements, training, career path development, delineation of duties and compensation.

Citing a strain on pilots, James and Welsh revealed first steps toward retaining and strengthening the service’s RPA force in January.

“We are taking action now to address future ISR needs,” Welsh said following the latest announcement. “Not too long ago, we took the best of both officer and enlisted development tracks to lead the space mission. A similar model can be applied to our Global Hawk operations.” He said it is “too soon to speculate” on whether enlisted personnel will be allowed to fly armed MQ-1 Predators and MQ-9 Reapers as well.

Two days earlier, the Air Force said it will award $25,000 critical skills retention bonuses to experienced RPA pilots to keep them flying. For the first time, the service has a legislative mandate under the Fiscal Year 2016 defense authorization act to pay RPA pilots similarly to the way it compensates the pilots of manned aircraft. “These airmen are making extremely important contributions to the fight; we need these professionals to stay with us and we’re committed to retaining them in our force,” James stated.

On December 10, the Air Combat Command announced a series of recommendations stemming from an RPA study it conducted “in an attempt to normalize operations and ensure long-term mission success.” Among those recommendations, the command calls for increasing the number of RPA crewmembers by 2,500 to 3,500 airmen, more than doubling the number of MQ-1/MQ-9 squadrons from eight to 17, adding a new wing and expanding RPA bases to sites including Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, Langley AFB in Virginia “and a few overseas locations.” The expansion, which Congress must approve, would cost $3 billion and supplement the current RPA fleet with 75 new MQ-9 Reapers, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Air Force’s plan “highlights the value of the capability of persistent situational awareness,” said Christopher Ames, director of international strategic development with Reaper manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. “You can make the battlefield transparent and have a deep competitive advantage because you can use fewer forces against specific targets to greater effect,” he explained during an AIN visit to the company’s production facility in Poway, Calif., northeast of San Diego. “We see it as a validation of the benefits derived from persistent situational awareness, the force multiplier effect. Of course the company will be making more Reapers—that’s a wonderful thing.”

The Poway facility is currently producing four MQ-9 Predator Bs and two U.S. Army MQ-1C Gray Eagles per month. It has surge capacity to produce eight and five of those aircraft per month, respectively, executives said. Production of the Predator A (MQ-1) ended in 2011, although two such aircraft were later supplied to Italy.