‘That place is a dumpster fire’ — Inside the Air Force’s dilapidated Reaper school, which won't be fixed anytime soon
Here’s what happens when you combine a sinkhole, a border wall and a deep-seated cultural conflict over the future of the Air Force:

David Roza
May 8, 2020 5:50 PM EDT

Deep in the desert of south-central New Mexico is a school unlike any other, where Air Force pilots learn to fly the MQ-9 Reaper. A multi-mission remotely-piloted aircraft (RPA), the Reaper has a range of duties, from scouting the battlefield to killing high-value targets like the late Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.

But as the school churns out hundreds of new MQ-9 pilots a year, the facility itself is falling apart. Airmen contend with a sinkhole under the building that threatens its stability, toilets and pipes that overflow and leak, and classrooms that do not have enough network ports or electrical outlets to support lessons on flying a 21st century aircraft.

The Air Force had $85 million lined up in the 2019 defense budget to fix the facility, but that money was diverted to help build a wall on the U.S. southern border with Mexico. The move angered New Mexico lawmakers and left RPA pilots at Holloman Air Force Base in the same ramshackle conditions.



https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-drone-school-falling-apart