KAZANLAK, Bulgaria – Bulgarian and U.S. Soldiers took to the skies in a bilateral training event through use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) April 26, 2018.
The training enhanced operators’ proficiency in piloting the RQ-11B Raven
UAS, and also allowed both armies to work with one another in taking advantage of
Bulgaria’s terrain features and low amount of flight restrictions comparable to a deployed
environment.
“Training out here in Bulgaria gives me and my students less restrictions when requesting
airspace (to be made available by air traffic controllers),” said U.S. Army Spc. Christian
Portinga, a small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) master trainer assigned to Headquarters
and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade
Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas. “It gives them a diverse environment to
test their classroom knowledge with hands-on learning. This open environment is a better
representation of what they will see when dealing with airspace on a standard deployment.”
Bulgarian and U.S. troops started off the week in a classroom learning the fundamentals and safety procedures of the RQ-11B Raven. Once Soldiers from both countries were trained on the basics, they transitioned to hands-on training.
“It turns out that the language barrier is not really an issue,” said Bulgarian 2nd Lt. Petar
Hristov, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle platoon commander, 61st Mechanized
Brigade, Kazanlak, Bulgaria. “We proved that it’s possible, with the combining efforts from both
countries, to perform a lot of different tasks regardless of the language barrier.”
Portinga and his UAS operators started with basic flights to get a sense of the Bulgarian soldiers’ proficiency with the system.
“Working with our Allies has been very humbling,” said Portinga. “They have a very deep
knowledge of the system.”
A high-degree of proficiency by the Bulgarians and the U.S. at the start of the training helped Bulgarian and U.S. troops learn from each other and increased their skills in piloting the RQ-11B.
“Imagine you can build a pyramid,” said Hristov. “Until now, we’ve had the first three levels of
the pyramid. I think that after this week working with the U.S., we’ve put another two levels on
top of our pyramid.”