Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Nancy Lugo | Spc. Brandon Lough, (right) and Spc. Angela M. Nails, (left) both Shadow aircraft...... read more read more
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AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq -- A bird’s eye view during a convoy mission greatly increases the safety of a convoy and its passengers by showing those on the ground any activity going on around the convoy. A Shadow, an unmanned aircraft, provides that bird’s eye view with a video feed from the aircraft. It can clear the road ahead, keeping watch for any suspicious activity.
The Shadow platoon is a part of 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Advise and Assist Brigade, and is currently supporting U.S. operations in Anbar province, Iraq. They are capable of providing support to a large area by splitting their manpower between Camp Ramadi and Al Asad Air Base.
The crew at Camp Ramadi supports the 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2/82, “Red Falcons’,” missions, while the rest of the platoon launches and recovers the aircraft and provides support to the 2nd Battalion, 325th AIR, “White Falcons,” at Al Asad.
In Al Asad, the crew starts their day in the early afternoon, working throughout the night and into the early morning. Within an hour they will have a Shadow on its way to Camp Ramadi. At the halfway point, an operator on the ground in Al Asad will transfer control to an operator in Ramadi.
The second aircraft flies to cover the Al Asad area, providing security to White Falcons’ missions. If no missions are scheduled, the platoon covers areas that have the potential for violence.
There are two operators who control the aircraft; one controls the flight of the aircraft while the other operator controls the camera. The camera can see day or night from high above the ground. The video is fed in near-real time to the operator and anyone who needs to monitor the feed.
While the operators control the flight of the aircraft, the maintainers are responsible for fueling, preflight checks and launching the aircraft.
“(Maintainers) are able to overcome maintenance issues quickly and troubleshoot problems. We have to figure it out. (We) have the only unmanned aircraft in the brigade,” said Staff Sgt. Phillip M. Schleicher, Shadow platoon sergeant and native of Shawnee, Kan.
A pneumatic launcher is used to propel the 390-pound aircraft into the sky. To land, a tactical automated landing system with an arresting hook and cable is used, similar to the way a fighter pilot lands on an aircraft carrier.
“Since deployment, the platoon has flown 1,244 hours, averaging 12 to 20 hours a night,” said Schleicher. “They work together to overcome all obstacles. Operators are willing to help maintainers and vice versa,” he said.
Shadow platoon has operated every day since arriving in Iraq four months ago, except for two days due to safety training.
Although operation and maintenance of the aircraft keeps the soldiers hard at work, they are glad to be doing their job, improving their skills, and providing such an important service to the brigade.
Pfc. Evan Herbert an operator from Scottsdale, Ariz., said, “I definitely learn my job. Back (at Fort Bragg, N.C.) we fly about once a month. Here we fly every night.”
| Date Taken: | 09.05.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 09.07.2011 09:36 |
| Story ID: | 76568 |
| Location: | AL ASAD AIR BASE, IQ |
| Web Views: | 122 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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