Shaffer
08-05-02, 08:43 AM
VICTORVILLE - The miniature plane with about a three-foot wing span was the
focus of about 250 Marines holding war games at Southern California
Logistics Airport on Friday.
As Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment based at Twentynine
Palms tried to secure portions of a village (actually, old base housing)
from the opposition (other Marines), troops launched the small plane with a
large bungee cord.
The state-of-the-art unmanned aircraft, programmed with exact global
positioning satellite coordinates, flew over the battle area, giving a
birds-eye view of the action to Marines both in the field with video goggles
and through a television at the command post.
With the help of the aircraft, Marines in the command post spotted an
enemy's light armored vehicle. The enemy position was posted on a large map
and relayed to the Marines in the field.
Voices crackled over the radio, and Maj. Robert Barr grinned.
"They just fired artillery and mortar," said Barr, who is the experiment's
planning team leader at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory.
Friendly troops closed in on the vehicle, and, for the purposes of the
training exercise, "destroyed it."
The 51/2-pound plane, called Dragon Eye, is just one of the new technologies
Marines are testing and training with at SCLA for the Millennium Challenge.
Experiments like this one, with new technologies and tactics, have been
taking place at SCLA since Monday, and will continue through Aug. 9.
SCLA is the base of action now for Millennium Dragon, the Marines' part of
Millennium Challenge.
The larger exercise is part of the congressionally mandated training
exercise involving 13,500 armed troops throughout the country.
Millennium Dragon began with a "ship to maneuver objective" where troops and
equipment were unloaded from ships off the Southern California coast.
The vehicles then drove up Interstate 15, and some troops were flown with
Marine aircraft support, to SCLA to take out a site that housed a suspected
weapon of mass destruction.
For local officials who want to develop the former Air Force base, the
former military housing is a blight and an obstacle.
But it is the housing that has attracted the Marines to SCLA.
The sprawling abandoned base housing provides a nearly unparalleled area for
urban warfare training.
"Urban warfare is one of the most difficult, prolific and bloody types of
fighting," Barr said.
"The reason we're at George is because of the size, depth and breadth of the
training area," Barr said.
With more than 300 empty housing units, SCLA eclipses the size of urban
training areas at Camp Pendleton and Camp Lejeune, in North
Carolina.
The next phase for the Marines will be an Urban Combined Arms Exercise, or
UCAX, which will involve about 1,200 army and Marine personnel and
civilians.
The final three days of the exercise will be, "the culmination of five years
of preparations," Barr said.
Forces will have to "take over" a town from an opposing force, played by
other Marines, secure the town, and then act as peace keepers, dealing with
guerilla fighters.
focus of about 250 Marines holding war games at Southern California
Logistics Airport on Friday.
As Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment based at Twentynine
Palms tried to secure portions of a village (actually, old base housing)
from the opposition (other Marines), troops launched the small plane with a
large bungee cord.
The state-of-the-art unmanned aircraft, programmed with exact global
positioning satellite coordinates, flew over the battle area, giving a
birds-eye view of the action to Marines both in the field with video goggles
and through a television at the command post.
With the help of the aircraft, Marines in the command post spotted an
enemy's light armored vehicle. The enemy position was posted on a large map
and relayed to the Marines in the field.
Voices crackled over the radio, and Maj. Robert Barr grinned.
"They just fired artillery and mortar," said Barr, who is the experiment's
planning team leader at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory.
Friendly troops closed in on the vehicle, and, for the purposes of the
training exercise, "destroyed it."
The 51/2-pound plane, called Dragon Eye, is just one of the new technologies
Marines are testing and training with at SCLA for the Millennium Challenge.
Experiments like this one, with new technologies and tactics, have been
taking place at SCLA since Monday, and will continue through Aug. 9.
SCLA is the base of action now for Millennium Dragon, the Marines' part of
Millennium Challenge.
The larger exercise is part of the congressionally mandated training
exercise involving 13,500 armed troops throughout the country.
Millennium Dragon began with a "ship to maneuver objective" where troops and
equipment were unloaded from ships off the Southern California coast.
The vehicles then drove up Interstate 15, and some troops were flown with
Marine aircraft support, to SCLA to take out a site that housed a suspected
weapon of mass destruction.
For local officials who want to develop the former Air Force base, the
former military housing is a blight and an obstacle.
But it is the housing that has attracted the Marines to SCLA.
The sprawling abandoned base housing provides a nearly unparalleled area for
urban warfare training.
"Urban warfare is one of the most difficult, prolific and bloody types of
fighting," Barr said.
"The reason we're at George is because of the size, depth and breadth of the
training area," Barr said.
With more than 300 empty housing units, SCLA eclipses the size of urban
training areas at Camp Pendleton and Camp Lejeune, in North
Carolina.
The next phase for the Marines will be an Urban Combined Arms Exercise, or
UCAX, which will involve about 1,200 army and Marine personnel and
civilians.
The final three days of the exercise will be, "the culmination of five years
of preparations," Barr said.
Forces will have to "take over" a town from an opposing force, played by
other Marines, secure the town, and then act as peace keepers, dealing with
guerilla fighters.