

There may not be an open war, quite yet, between the Secretary of Defense and the leadership of the Air Force. But there is serious, palatable tension. And a nasty game of brinksmanship over the use of drones in the Middle East has only made things worse.

Last fall, the Pentagon's civilian chiefs shot down an Air Force move to take over almost all of the military's big unmanned aircraft. "There has to be a better way to do this," complained Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Michael "Buzz" Moseley. Things only got more tense when Gates said that the future of conflict is in small, "asymmetric" wars – wars in which the Air Force takes a back seat to ground forces. Then Gates noted that the Air Force's most treasured piece of gear, the F-22 stealth fighter, basically has no role in the war on terror. And when a top Air Force general said the service was planning on buying twice as many of the jets – despite orders from Gates and the rest of the civilian leadership – he was rebuked for "borderline insubordination."

Now comes word from *L.A. Times' *ace Peter Spiegel that Gates "has ordered the Air Force to put nearly all of its unmanned Predator aircraft into the skies over the

Middle East, forcing the service to take steps that officers worry could hobble already-stressed drone squadrons."

**

Pressure from the Defense secretary in recent months has nearly doubled the number of Predators available to help hunt insurgents and find roadside bombs in Iraq. But it has forced air commanders into a scramble for crews that officers said could hurt morale and harm the long-term viability of the Predator program.* Some officers said pressure from Gates resulted in one plan that could have taken the Air Force down a path similar to the German Luftwaffe, which cut back training in World War II to get more pilots in the air.* "That was the end of their air force," said Col. Chris Chambliss, commander of the Air Force's Predator wing. The Air Force plan, presented to the military leadership in January, eventually was scaled back...*

In response, the Air Force has stepped up training. Next year, commanders will train 200 two-man crews to remotely fly a fleet of

Predators that numbers more than 100, as well as a larger version called the Reaper, mostly out of a spartan air base in the Nevada desert. Trainers will turn out more pilots for Predators next year than for all other Air Force fighter planes combined.

** But in the most dramatic example of brinkmanship in the struggle, the plan debated by the military leadership in January would have shut down the Predator training operation in order to increase to 36 the number of Predators continuously flying combat patrols in the Middle East by

August.

** The plan was dubbed "all in" by its developer, Gen. T. Michael Moseley, the Air Force chief of staff.

** Although the most drastic parts of Moseley's "all in" plan have not been carried out, the Predator program has been forced through three makeovers since July, and the service has had to take aggressive steps to meet the new demand.

** At first, the Air Force extended the tours of the Predator crews. By

September, however, officials began to recall many of the pilots who had completed their Predator duty and left for fighter and bomber assignments elsewhere.

** Then, as part of the January deal, Predator and Reaper crews were frozen. Even pilots who have been flying drones nonstop for three years will have to remain in Nevada for at least two more years. Many of them originally were trained as fighter and bomber pilots.

** Air Force officials are acutely aware that their concerns may seem like whining, particularly compared with Army counterparts who serve

15-month tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Still, Predator crews have been working 13-hour days, sometimes six days a week, for three years with no end in sight.

** "Now we're saying: 'Hey, you guys are just going to be here until we stop,' " said Chambliss, the Predator wing commander, comparing the tours of duty to "a prisoner with a finite term versus a prisoner with a life sentence."

It's funny. A yew years back, flying a Predator was considered a pretty cushy gig. "Most of the time, I get to fight the war, and go home and see the wife and kids at night," one Predator pilot told me. Now the guy's a "prisoner?" I'm not sure the Air Force is really helping themselves in this fight, by throttling up the rhetoric so high.