Days 1–2 are simulator: control-stick discipline, camera routing and standard emergency drills. Cadets fly a validated flight model on the same transmitter they will use in combat, with a full syllabus of failure scenarios — link loss, battery low, motor desync, video dropout.
The simulator phase is not optional and it is not shortened. Roughly a third of applicants wash out here; sending an unready operator to a live airframe is the fastest way to lose both.
Our updated training program takes a new operator from opening the case to a controlled first strike in five working days, on real airframes.
Days 3–4 move to a live 5-inch trainer airframe on a closed range — full mission profile six to eight times per day. Every flight is debriefed on video the same evening.
Trainer airframes carry an inert 400 g slug to replicate the CG of a real payload. Batteries and props are consumables; we plan on 30% attrition over the two days.
Day 5 is a live combat-configured ULTRA-10 with an inert warhead on a dedicated closed range. The full launch, transit, target acquisition and terminal dive is flown against pre-positioned target vehicles.
Graduates leave with a signed proficiency record and a full spares kit for their first ten sorties. Follow-up is scheduled at day 30 for a debrief and any refresher work needed on tactics learned in the field.
