ang1sgt
09-13-2008, 07:26 AM
Here is the rest of the info on the two Airframes.
RQ-4 Global Hawk: Above it all
The RQ-4 Global Hawk might look a bit ungainly.
But many liken the high-flying, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system's reconnaissance mission to that of the venerable U-2. It cannot shoot full-motion video like the Predator. But it can take photos so quickly that they form a kind of stop-motion animation -- like drawing stick figures on a page corner and making the figures "move" by quickly flipping through the pages.
Global Hawk can gather different types of images:
Electro-optical, which looks like what a TV camera might see, is the system's most-requested product; Infrared imaging, which detects heat from such things as people, pack animals, vehicle engines and recently-fired mortar tubes; and Synthetic aperture radar, specifically used in bad weather to spot objects like tanks, people, buildings and trees.
Each unmanned aircraft system has its own mission -- and Global Hawk is no different. Sometimes those missions are part of a much larger cooperative effort, called "cross cue."
Global Hawk manufacturer Northrop Grumman said one incident illustrates the cooperative effort between Global Hawk and the Predator.
In November 2004, enemy forces were on the run, fleeing in multiple directions. Overhead were two Predators, a Global Hawk and two fighter jets. Two Predators followed one group, and the Global Hawk set its sights on the other. Both tried to track the bad guys to their hideouts.
When the insurgents came to a four-way intersection in a road, Global Hawk operators weren't sure which way they would go. So they quickly took pictures of each road, eventually allowing image analysts to determine the insurgents' route.
Global Hawk kept the track, then handed it off to the Predators -- in what's called a cross cue -- after they finished tracking the other group.
Mission complete. Game over.
The Global Hawk's specialty is to take images of wide areas so analysts can pinpoint areas of interest, then call upon other assets -- fighters, Predators or Reapers -- to investigate the area more closely.
The Global Hawk mission, like the Predator and the Reaper, continues to grow as the Air Force finds more ways to exploit its capabilities. For instance, the Air Force is stationing the Global Hawk system in Hawaii to use its reconnaissance capability in the Pacific region.
The Global Hawk was used to help fight fires because sometimes smoke is so dense that it's hard to find hotspots using standard remote sensing techniques. So the Global Hawk's infrared and synthetic aperture radar images helped firefighters direct their efforts.
Global Hawk designers say it can also perform homeland security missions.
And the Global Hawk mission is also a perfect fit for the Air Force Reserve, said Lt. Col. Jonathan Ellis, 13th Reconnaissance Squadron commander at Beale Air Force Base, Calif.
"All of the mid-mission control is done here," Colonel Ellis said. Global Hawk aircrews remotely fly the unmanned aircraft system from Beale. "We take off from wherever the aircraft is, like 'you-pick-a-stan,' and we control the mission from here."
Reservists share the flying mission with Beale's active duty 9th and 12th reconnaissance wings.
"It makes perfect sense to me to have a reservist do this type of mission," Colonel Ellis said.
The colonel said that if a Global Hawk operator had to deploy for each mission, it would create a significant burden on that person, the person's employer and the person's family.
So the Air Force plans to increase the Global Hawk program by 85 people, enabling reserves to handle an entire mission, or orbit, on their own. The entire Global Hawk program currently calls for six orbits. If reservists get their way, they'd be fully responsible for one of those orbits.
"Many active-duty members don't even know about us," Colonel Ellis said. "They don't realize we're here. The running joke is that the only way you know Global Hawk is here is because we're the guys with the walkers. We're older."
MQ-9 Reaper: The deadly spawn
Like the MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper missions take a team of experts to accomplish: a pilot, sensor operator, mission coordinator and a host of other support experts.
The Reaper is larger and more powerful than the Predator and designed to get to targets quickly to either destroy or disable them.
"We employ it like an attack squadron," said Col. Chris Chambliss, commander of the 432nd Wing and 432nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nev.
And requests for the hunter-killer are ever rising.
To meet the increased need for the unmanned aircraft systems, "We have the Nevada Guard and Reserves, and our British coalition partners, right next to us flying and maintaining these aircraft," the colonel said. "It takes a lot of people to make this mission happen."
Reaper aircrews are currently flying two combat air patrols a day over the war zone. The colonel expects that to soon increase to three.
"Supporting combat troops on the ground when they get into a firefight and call for air support -- and we're able to provide it -- is the greatest satisfaction I get," said Captain Andy, a Reaper pilot with Creech's 42nd Attack Squadron.
His sensor operator, Sergeant Justin, says he feels a weight of responsibility on his shoulders, especially as an enlisted aircrew member.
"I sit next to a pilot who has years of pilot training. The responsibilities I have are amazing," the sergeant said. "I don't know where else I'd be able to do this in any other career field."
The pilot, sensor operator and mission coordinator --normally in the intelligence career field and who helps coordinate the mission and ensures customers get what they need -- work as a team. The pilot controls the aircraft and the sensor operator controls the "unblinking eye" of the aircraft's optical lens.
"We need to be coordinated to where Justin is looking during the critical stages of the flight to provide the support needed for the combat troops on the ground," the captain said.
When aircrews are not flying combat missions, they're flying training missions.
"On any given day, we could be doing either. But, typically, we don't do both on the same day," the captain said.
But training and real-world combat missions meld.
"With the request for Reaper support intensifying comes the need for more Reapers, which increases the need for more students, which means more instructors -- it affects the entire pipeline," the Reaper pilot said.
More Reaper training requires more people, equipment and money to meet mission needs. That's why Creech is growing like a weight lifter on steroids. The wing stood up Nov. 1, 2007, with about 600 people. It expects to have 2,000 by the end of 2008, Colonel Chambliss said.
"We're experiencing an explosive growth, and that doesn't even include the associate units we have with the Guard and Reserves," the colonel said.
At no other location is training so obviously important than at Creech, he said. The minute pilots and sensor operators graduate, they begin flying combat missions.
"Training is the key enabler to combat missions. So having it collocated with the combat mission is really priceless," Colonel Chambliss said.
Airmen at Creech not only maintain and fly the Reaper and Predator, they provide the training and fly combat missions from there, too. This gives them a unique opportunity to quickly adapt or change the Predator and Reaper to meet the needs of troops on the ground.
"We're continuing to grow both systems," Colonel Chambliss said. "With the Reaper -- as we discover what we can do with the airplane -- we're going to do more with the system as we discover new ways to use it."
Troops on the ground can't wait.
RQ-4 Global Hawk: Above it all
The RQ-4 Global Hawk might look a bit ungainly.
But many liken the high-flying, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system's reconnaissance mission to that of the venerable U-2. It cannot shoot full-motion video like the Predator. But it can take photos so quickly that they form a kind of stop-motion animation -- like drawing stick figures on a page corner and making the figures "move" by quickly flipping through the pages.
Global Hawk can gather different types of images:
Electro-optical, which looks like what a TV camera might see, is the system's most-requested product; Infrared imaging, which detects heat from such things as people, pack animals, vehicle engines and recently-fired mortar tubes; and Synthetic aperture radar, specifically used in bad weather to spot objects like tanks, people, buildings and trees.
Each unmanned aircraft system has its own mission -- and Global Hawk is no different. Sometimes those missions are part of a much larger cooperative effort, called "cross cue."
Global Hawk manufacturer Northrop Grumman said one incident illustrates the cooperative effort between Global Hawk and the Predator.
In November 2004, enemy forces were on the run, fleeing in multiple directions. Overhead were two Predators, a Global Hawk and two fighter jets. Two Predators followed one group, and the Global Hawk set its sights on the other. Both tried to track the bad guys to their hideouts.
When the insurgents came to a four-way intersection in a road, Global Hawk operators weren't sure which way they would go. So they quickly took pictures of each road, eventually allowing image analysts to determine the insurgents' route.
Global Hawk kept the track, then handed it off to the Predators -- in what's called a cross cue -- after they finished tracking the other group.
Mission complete. Game over.
The Global Hawk's specialty is to take images of wide areas so analysts can pinpoint areas of interest, then call upon other assets -- fighters, Predators or Reapers -- to investigate the area more closely.
The Global Hawk mission, like the Predator and the Reaper, continues to grow as the Air Force finds more ways to exploit its capabilities. For instance, the Air Force is stationing the Global Hawk system in Hawaii to use its reconnaissance capability in the Pacific region.
The Global Hawk was used to help fight fires because sometimes smoke is so dense that it's hard to find hotspots using standard remote sensing techniques. So the Global Hawk's infrared and synthetic aperture radar images helped firefighters direct their efforts.
Global Hawk designers say it can also perform homeland security missions.
And the Global Hawk mission is also a perfect fit for the Air Force Reserve, said Lt. Col. Jonathan Ellis, 13th Reconnaissance Squadron commander at Beale Air Force Base, Calif.
"All of the mid-mission control is done here," Colonel Ellis said. Global Hawk aircrews remotely fly the unmanned aircraft system from Beale. "We take off from wherever the aircraft is, like 'you-pick-a-stan,' and we control the mission from here."
Reservists share the flying mission with Beale's active duty 9th and 12th reconnaissance wings.
"It makes perfect sense to me to have a reservist do this type of mission," Colonel Ellis said.
The colonel said that if a Global Hawk operator had to deploy for each mission, it would create a significant burden on that person, the person's employer and the person's family.
So the Air Force plans to increase the Global Hawk program by 85 people, enabling reserves to handle an entire mission, or orbit, on their own. The entire Global Hawk program currently calls for six orbits. If reservists get their way, they'd be fully responsible for one of those orbits.
"Many active-duty members don't even know about us," Colonel Ellis said. "They don't realize we're here. The running joke is that the only way you know Global Hawk is here is because we're the guys with the walkers. We're older."
MQ-9 Reaper: The deadly spawn
Like the MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper missions take a team of experts to accomplish: a pilot, sensor operator, mission coordinator and a host of other support experts.
The Reaper is larger and more powerful than the Predator and designed to get to targets quickly to either destroy or disable them.
"We employ it like an attack squadron," said Col. Chris Chambliss, commander of the 432nd Wing and 432nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nev.
And requests for the hunter-killer are ever rising.
To meet the increased need for the unmanned aircraft systems, "We have the Nevada Guard and Reserves, and our British coalition partners, right next to us flying and maintaining these aircraft," the colonel said. "It takes a lot of people to make this mission happen."
Reaper aircrews are currently flying two combat air patrols a day over the war zone. The colonel expects that to soon increase to three.
"Supporting combat troops on the ground when they get into a firefight and call for air support -- and we're able to provide it -- is the greatest satisfaction I get," said Captain Andy, a Reaper pilot with Creech's 42nd Attack Squadron.
His sensor operator, Sergeant Justin, says he feels a weight of responsibility on his shoulders, especially as an enlisted aircrew member.
"I sit next to a pilot who has years of pilot training. The responsibilities I have are amazing," the sergeant said. "I don't know where else I'd be able to do this in any other career field."
The pilot, sensor operator and mission coordinator --normally in the intelligence career field and who helps coordinate the mission and ensures customers get what they need -- work as a team. The pilot controls the aircraft and the sensor operator controls the "unblinking eye" of the aircraft's optical lens.
"We need to be coordinated to where Justin is looking during the critical stages of the flight to provide the support needed for the combat troops on the ground," the captain said.
When aircrews are not flying combat missions, they're flying training missions.
"On any given day, we could be doing either. But, typically, we don't do both on the same day," the captain said.
But training and real-world combat missions meld.
"With the request for Reaper support intensifying comes the need for more Reapers, which increases the need for more students, which means more instructors -- it affects the entire pipeline," the Reaper pilot said.
More Reaper training requires more people, equipment and money to meet mission needs. That's why Creech is growing like a weight lifter on steroids. The wing stood up Nov. 1, 2007, with about 600 people. It expects to have 2,000 by the end of 2008, Colonel Chambliss said.
"We're experiencing an explosive growth, and that doesn't even include the associate units we have with the Guard and Reserves," the colonel said.
At no other location is training so obviously important than at Creech, he said. The minute pilots and sensor operators graduate, they begin flying combat missions.
"Training is the key enabler to combat missions. So having it collocated with the combat mission is really priceless," Colonel Chambliss said.
Airmen at Creech not only maintain and fly the Reaper and Predator, they provide the training and fly combat missions from there, too. This gives them a unique opportunity to quickly adapt or change the Predator and Reaper to meet the needs of troops on the ground.
"We're continuing to grow both systems," Colonel Chambliss said. "With the Reaper -- as we discover what we can do with the airplane -- we're going to do more with the system as we discover new ways to use it."
Troops on the ground can't wait.