Photo By Bradley Clark | The engine on an unmanned aerial vehicle is started by Spc. Shaun Fennessy,...... read more read more
By Pfc. Bradley J. Clark
4th BCT, 1st Cav. Div. Public Affairs
FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAREZ, Iraq— Soldiers from the unmanned aerial vehicle platoon, A Company, Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division constantly have their eyes on the battlefield.
"We have logged over 400 missions with a total of 2,000 plus hours," said Spc. Jacob Vaughn, tactical UAV operator. "Our mission is a vital one. There have been numerous times we have saved lives. We are like a scout or sniper team. We play hide and seek with the enemy, but they don't know we're looking for them. They have no idea we're there."
There are many units that benefit from the assets that the UAV platoon provides.
"While forward observers can relay information via the radio, we provide visual information," said Vaughn. "With us, you get to see what is happening on the big screen and every battalion [tactical operations center] has one."
A lot of units take the UAV support they receive very seriously.
"There are some units that go out without us because they have to," said Vaughn. "But there are a lot of units that won't go out unless they know that the UAV is out there with them."
The whole process of a UAV getting in the air and doing its mission begins with preflight checks and maintenance. This involves every aspect of the UAV to ensure mission safety and accuracy. Some of those things include checking to make sure the flaps, throttle, rudder and camera all work properly.
Once everything is complete, the UAV is then moved over to the launch pad and placed on the launcher; the engine is started and the vehicle is put through a final series of tests.
"We put the UAV through a series of stress tests that simulate it in the air," Vaughn said. "The tests allow us to make sure the UAV is able to make its initial climb into the air and keep the speed that it will need for the mission. We also check the temperature to make sure it's not over-heating or anything like that."
Once the UAV reaches this point, it is ready to be launched and the pilot's portion of the mission begins.
"We fly it for hours on end and anywhere in the provincial area," said Vaughn.
If the mission dictates that the UAV will be needed somewhere outside the province, the pilots transfer control of the vehicle to another team of pilots at a different location. This is something that the platoon says it has to do quite often because they support missions in the city of Tal 'Afar and surrounding areas throughout the Ninevah province.
After a mission is complete and it is time for the UAV to come back home, the pilots prepare for the landing.
"We use [the tactical automated landing system] to land the UAV," said Vaughn. "After we get the UAV close enough for the TALS to pick it up, TALS will talk to the aircraft and bring it down to a certain parameter. Then we are right there with the controls just in case anything out of the ordinary happens, like a change in wind or if other aircraft are landing or taking off."
Once the UAV lands, the maintainers must take the vehicle into a mini hanger and conduct post-mission maintenance.
"The first thing we do is [take all the fuel out of the UAV] and then refuel it," said Spc. Creighton Brahm, military intelligence systems maintainer/integrator. "I know it sounds funny, but we do it because it doesn't have a fuel gauge like a car does, so we don't know exactly how much fuel it has. After we add the fuel, we then add oil to it, because that is what is used to cool the engine."
From this point, the UAV will either continue on to the preflight checks and maintenance, or it will have to go through routine maintenance.
"There are certain things we have to do at a certain number of flying hours," said Vaughn.
"Every 12 [flying] hours we have to re-torque the propeller and change the spark plug," said Brahm. "All in all, it's about an hours-worth of [post-flight] maintenance."
Though the routine maintenance is complete, the work of the maintainers in not. They must start the cycle over to prepare for the next mission. It's a never-ending job, but it is one that is needed to continue the success of the tactical unmanned aerial vehicle in the Ninevah province.
| Date Taken: | 05.23.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 05.23.2007 12:04 |
| Story ID: | 10490 |
| Location: | MOSUL, IQ |
| Web Views: | 145 |
| Downloads: | 66 |
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