Today's announcement is the first time I have heard this. Are both operated within the same squadron? I thought they were two different quals? Can you be dual qualed?

Yes and no. You can be dual qualed but most UAV pilots are not. The differences aren't too extreme between the 1 and the 9 and it would be relativity easy to bounce between the two.

Snuggie, I don't think you hit on the original question so I'll backfill as required... STS. The MQ-1 and the MQ-9 are effectively the same system... same control station, same comm suites, same radios, et cetera. You can be dual-qual'd depending on the squadron you're in and bounce back and forth between the Pred and the Reaper.

To the orginal question. Remote Split Ops = controlling the thing via the satellite link. You do NOT learn to land this thing until after completing IQT and being sent off to your operational squadron. YOu must then, after gaining a little experience, volunteer to deploy at which point you'll be sent to Launch and Recovery Element training. That's done via LOS radio.