Ukrainian activists launch military drone pilot school

A Krylati professional military training school for controlling UAVs was opened in Ukraine.

The first course started on January 20. Classes will be held in Kyiv and Poltava and later in Lviv, says school co-founder Andrii Balon.

The course was developed for the military with experience operating drones to develop their skills and learn new technologies. Classes will last between 5 and 10 days, depending on the current skills of the cadets. The instructors' primary emphasis is FPV control, board programming for autonomous missions, various piloting tactics, and group work. Students will also expand their knowledge of EW and SIGINT. Basic training will take place on simulators, then the cadets will move on to flight practice, and at the end, they will take an exam.

Active pilots with many years of experience using drones in combat conditions in various areas of the frontline since 2014 will conduct classes.

Andrii Balon says that after February 24, the Krylati team started developing its military UAV. Once the drone was built and tested, the team created a school to teach how to fly different types of drones.

The training course development lasted half a year. For several months, the school worked in pilot mode; several dozen pilots were trained during this time.

Balon says their open centers' mission is not only the acquisition of knowledge but also the exchange of experience between pilots who take an active part in combat operations. The school's goal is to create a pool of hundreds of pilots who operate drones of various levels. According to the school's co-founder, this approach will later help create conditions for a counteroffensive and recapturing of the occupied territories.

"As shown by the current units of various military branches and separate units for aerial surveillance and unmanned attack control, the need for specialists will constantly grow. Therefore, the new schools and the educational aspect are just an absolute necessity and a guarantee that we will have the scaling of these specialists," Andrii Balon says about the relevance of UAV control training.

To register for the course, a service member must complete a questionnaire. When selecting, the organizers will give preference to pilots with experience in operating drones and pay attention to the functions and needs of the unit. After processing the application, the soldier will receive a confirmation from the school, which they can provide to their military team.