We flight the future is the phrase that continues to define the vision of the Basic School of Remotely Manned Aircraft.
Unmanned aviation has gained more strength in the different sectors of the world such as economic, labor and even ecological. The Colombian Air Force has taken a look at the use of drones for the fulfillment of tasks carried out not only in the framework of military operations, but in all the specialties that help the aim of facilitating the missions that are carried out within the Institution, taking a step towards the future through the use of this technological tool, which has taken so much boom.
That is why, since 2021, the Basic School of Remotely Manned Aircraft has added the tactical drone operator Course to its academic programs, it is an opportunity for any member of the Air Force who wishes to use drones for work, leading them to save time, resources, personnel and even strengthen the missions carried out in each of their specialties, with simple equipment that millions of people currently use, but with the differential of doing so in the framework of fulfilling the constitutional mission that has been given to the FAC during its 103-year history.
The School has so far carried out six courses with 102 graduate students, including a soldier of the National Army and four non-commissioned officers of the Colombian Navy, who have received instruction in the areas of aerodynamics, air regulations, aeronautical communications, meteorology, operational safety and technical generalities of the system that will lead students to understand the operation of drones, as well as the use of aeronautical procedures to fly them, taking into account that the airspace has a traffic regulation to prevent potential accidents.
The knowledge imparted among the members of the Colombian Air Force has been put at the service of different specialties with different objectives such as:
Security and Defense of Bases: This is one of the specialties that is redefining the way to provide surface security to both aircraft and Air Units, since this capacity leads to real-time security missions, either day or night, providing audiovisual products that not only contribute to the security of the Bases, but with that of the municipalities adjacent to them, in the different regions of the country. The possibility of being able to carry out security tasks through unmanned aviation provides tactical advantages, which will transform the future of this specialty.
Air Defense: One of the missions carried out by the personnel of this specialty is to find and destroy possible illegal runways that are built by hand in different regions, which is why unmanned aviation leads them to search for these areas to establish their exact location, dimensions and possible nearby settlements, before carrying out their destruction, with which operations of this type are carried out reducing possible collateral and even environmental damage, neutralizing the illegal activities precisely thanks to the use of drones, which in the same way expanded the opportunity to make closer sightings.
Aeronautical logistics: In this area, tactical drones are currently used for the preparation of topographic studies, for the construction or evaluation of lands in which the Units of the Colombian Air Force are located, facilitating the tasks that in the past took days, but now are carried out in hours.
Tactical drones are another step towards the future of the Basic School of Remotely Manned Aircraft, they are new possibilities that bring development, technology and multiplicity in the tasks they can conduct, strengthening all the specialties of the Institution that little by little will be integrated with this tool, in the same way strengthening the resources of the members of the Colombian Air Force, who will continue working, innovating and training for the sovereignty of Colombian airspace.
Source: Colombian Air Force
