16th Training Squadron Savages Predator Reaper FTU USAF Patch

The 16th Training Squadron at Holloman AFB graduates more than 600 MQ-9 Reaper students a year, and its director of operations has said it graduates more students than any other formal training unit. FTU, on this patch, stands for formal training unit. The squadron is the lead producer of MQ-9 pilots and sensor operators for the Air Force. Every MQ-9 pilot and sensor operator trained at Holloman since 2009 has come through it. Its patch carries the aircraft it was built around, Predator and Reaper, and the name SAVAGES.

The unit's lineage starts at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, where it was activated on 1 April 1972 as the 3416th Technical Training Squadron. It earned Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards for 1979 to 1980, 1982 to 1983, 1987 and 1989 before inactivating on 1 October 1993. Redesignated the 16th Training Squadron on 20 October 2009, it was activated at Holloman on 23 October 2009 under the 49th Operations Group. It trained crews on the MQ-1B Predator and the MQ-9 Reaper, using the Predator Mission Aircrew Training System simulators. The MQ-9 course runs about three months in four phases: transition, basic surface attack, kill chain and advanced kill chain.

The patch is a 4 inch circle with a rolled yellow merrowed border and a dark blue outer band. PREDATOR - REAPER FTU arcs across the top in gray-white block letters, and SAVAGES runs along the bottom. In the center, a gray stone arrowhead stitched with a large 16 is lashed to a fluted shaft, and two white remotely piloted aircraft spread their long straight wings out from the lashing. Crossed black arrows sit behind the shaft, and a red teardrop on each side holds a white star. It has a hook backing, so it attaches to a loop panel on a flight suit, jacket or bag.

Remotely piloted aircraft crews fly real missions from a ground control station, and the training has to match that. Students from the 6th, 9th and 29th Attack Squadrons work through the 16th's simulators in one building, and the squadron also maintains those simulators and trains its own future instructors. The pace is steady: a new class is always in the pipeline. The squadron's reputation rests on volume and readiness, getting crews to operational units ready to fly. For anyone who came through Holloman on the way to an MQ-1 or MQ-9 cockpit, this is where the job started.

It fits a shadow box with RPA wings and a Holloman AFB patch, or the loop panel of a flight jacket worn to a squadron reunion. It is also a good gift for a pilot or sensor operator who trained with the Savages. The 16th has been turning out Predator and Reaper crews since 2009.