WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is preparing to graduate its first drone pilots from the elite U.S. Air Force Weapons School, a version of the Navy's Top Gun program, in a bid to elevate the skills and status of the officers who fly the unmanned Predators, one of the military's fastest-growing aircraft programs.

The elite flight schools of the Air Force and Navy are most closely associated with smart, tough fighter jocks. But over the course of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the MQ-1 Predator and more heavily armed MQ-9 Reaper craft have become, to many in the Pentagon, the most important aircraft the U.S. has deployed.

In 2006 the Air Force was able to fly only 12 drones at a time. Today the Air Force flies 34 constant combat air patrols. As the program has expanded, the job of keeping the best pilots flying unmanned aircraft has proved to be a challenge.

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Until recently, pilots would work on the Predators and Reapers, then return to their assigned aircraft. But now the Air Force would like officers to make a career out of flying unmanned craft and become top experts at operating the drones.

"It is safe to say most pilots will always miss getting back in the air," said Lt. Col. Daniel Turner, who leads the Predator and Reaper training at the Weapons School. "But we see where the Air Force is going. We understand we are adding to the mission in a crucial way."

Giving top drone pilots a shot at the best training the military offers is one way to ensure that the most talented officers stay with the drone program and do not return to manned aircraft.

"I would love and go back and fly," said Maj. Geoff Fukumoto, an F-15 pilot who is one of the first to go through the Air Force Weapons School for the Predator and Reaper. "But I think I have found the place the Air Force needs me. Right now, I am committed to this job."

The military beefed up its advanced fighter pilot training after combat losses in the early years of the Vietnam War. The Naval Fighter Weapons School, founded in 1969, is popularly known as Top Gun and was the setting for the 1986 movie of that name.

The Air Force's school, located at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, began training only fighter pilots but has expanded over the years to include many different kinds of aircraft. Graduates are awarded a special insignia for their flight suits and are known as "patch-wearers."

The first five students will receive their Weapons School patches Thursday and graduate Saturday. Then they will serve as the program's first instructors, training 10 more pilots a year.

Air Force officers proposed adding the advanced training for the Predator and Reaper drones three years ago. But the Pentagon nixed the plan, arguing that they could not spare the drones or pilots from fight runs in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"We have never had an opportunity to do this before because we have been too busy doing combat," said Col. Trey Turner, who oversees training for the unmanned aircraft.

But now, with 127 Predators, 31 Reapers and 400 unmanned aircraft pilots, the Air Force was given the go-ahead to create the program. Its backers say the training is crucial to helping the military develop new ways to use the planes.

The Predator and Reaper pilots do their debriefs and classroom work at Nellis, with Weapons School students specializing in other aircraft. But they fly the drones from nearby Creech Air Force Base, the same control station used to fly the drones in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Some of the tactics under development - including how to use Reapers to take out sophisticated enemy air defenses - are unlikely to be used in Iraq or Afghanistan.

But many tactics will be quickly used in the field. For example, the five graduating officers have learned new ways to hide the sounds of the noisy propellers and keep their drones from being detected by militants.

Another important contribution is rescuing downed pilots.

For years, on bar napkins and in post-mission briefings, Air Force officers who fly the drones have talked about how they could be used in rescues.

But it wasn't until the Weapons School training began this year that the pilots worked out precise procedures for using the planes in combat search and rescue missions.

"Everyone knew it made sense to send unmanned aircraft in, but we didn't know how we were going to make that happen," said Turner, the lieutenant colonel.

The training is paying off already.

In recent days, students from the school have been advising drone crews in Afghanistan on more effective ways to use their weapons.

"We are already having an impact," said Maj. Joseph Campo, the Predator and Reaper Weapons School's director of operations. "Units overseas and guys here are calling us asking for our expertise."