Blind to Find in Record Time: Army and Air Force IAA Team Up

Photo By Master Sgt. Roland Sturm | U.S. Air Force Incident Awareness and Assessment team members assigned to the 181st Intelligence Wing, Indiana Air National Guard, coordinate and communicate collection priorities as part of a Collections Management Team during PATRIOT South 2020 at the Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center in Gulfport, Miss., Mar. 4, 2020. PATRIOT is a Domestic Operations disaster-response training exercise conducted by National Guard units working with federal, state and local emergency management agencies and first responders. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. L. Roland Sturm)  

MS, UNITED STATES

03.04.2020

Story by Tech. Sgt. Roland Sturm 

181st Intelligence Wing

GULFPORT, Miss. (Mar. 4, 2020) – U.S. Air and Army National Guard members teamed up to create Incident Awareness and Assessment products during exercise PATRIOT South 2020 at the Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center, Gulfport, Mississippi, Mar. 4, 2020.
PATRIOT is a domestic operations disaster-response training exercise conducted by National Guard units working with federal, state and local emergency management agencies and first responders.
U.S. Air Force IAA analysts assigned to the Indiana, California and New Mexico Air National Guard created a joint Unclassified Processing Assessment and Dissemination site and a mobile PAD team that collaborated with an Army RQ-11 Raven Small Unmanned Aircraft System IAA team to provide near real-time products during a simulated hurricane disaster scenario.
“We provide collection information for the JOC (Joint Operations Center) and civilian decision makers about what is damaged and what needs to be done to help the situation after disaster,” explained Chief Warrant Officer 5 Lester Furr, a Soldier assigned to 1st Squadron, 151st General Support Aviation Battalion, South Carolina Army National Guard.
Once the team arrives at the location, it takes approximately 15 minutes to provide live feed from the SUAS to the UPAD or mobile PAD. Products include pre-disaster assessments, annotated imagery of damage after disaster, roadway accessibility maps, and video clips. These capabilities allow local and federal leaders to assess, for example, road closures, flooding, and other high-risk areas where individuals may be stranded or injured during and after a disaster occurs.
The IAA and UPAD coordinated and worked specifically with RC-26 aircraft, RQ-11 Ravens, and UH-72 Lakota assets during PATRIOT South 2020, added U.S. Air Force Capt. Andrew Johnson, a UPAD site officer assigned to the 181st Intelligence Wing, Indiana Air National Guard. “Our goal here is to operate in a joint environment to provide timely and relevant information to personnel operating out in the field, such as search and rescue teams, law enforcement, and security forces, while communicating the common operating picture,” keeping all emergency responders and decision makers updated and informed throughout disaster and emergency response.
The personnel, assets, and skillsets used for these operations are the same ones these Airmen and Soldiers learn for their federal missions both stateside and overseas. The proficiency of those skillsets and equipment directly translate to IAA operations, allowing for rapid and efficient employment of these capabilities when natural disaster situations do arise.
“Disasters happen fast, flooding happens fast; Decision makers need information to decide how to best serve the public and we can provide that,” said Furr.

• Date Taken: 03.04.2020
• Date Posted: 03.19.2020 13:57
• Story ID: 365525
• Location: MS, US