thedrifter
03-14-09, 08:01 AM
When evil lurks on Iraqi soil, the Shadow knows
SCOTT FONTAINE; scott.fontaine@thenewstribune.com
Last updated: March 14th, 2009 12:14 AM (PDT)
AL TAQADDUM, Iraq – High above the skies of Anbar province, the Shadow is watching.
It watches as insurgents plant roadside bombs. It watches as truck convoys snake their way through Fallujah. It watches as Marines raid buildings in Ramadi.
With cameras 5,000 feet above the ground and Washington National Guard operators sitting in front of computer screens miles away, the unmanned aerial vehicle can coordinate indirect fire or alert soldiers about ambushes in waiting.
“These are the kinds of things that are going to put us tankers out of a job; it can just do so much,” said Col. Ronald Kapral, commander of the Guard’s 81st Brigade Combat Team, normally based at Camp Murray south of Tacoma.
A 16-soldier platoon from the 81st operates a squadron of four airplanes at Al Taqaddum, a dusty airbase of mostly Marines in western Iraq. The 11-foot-long plane has infrared cameras that feed information back to the platoon.
The soldiers conduct one or two missions daily, launching the drone skyward and then controlling it and monitoring what it sees from a series of screens in Humvees.
“This has to be the best assignment in the brigade,” said Sgt. Lewis Piper of Seattle, a 45-year-old schoolteacher who works maintenance on the Shadow. “We’re at that really interesting intersection of technology and warfare.”
This is the first time the Washington National Guard has used the Shadow in wartime. It received the four-plane package – with equipment it carries a price tag of $22 million – in March 2008.
The platoon handles missions in Anbar province in western Iraq – especially the cities of Ramadi, Fallujah and Al Taqaddum. Soldiers scan the ground for enemies burying roadside bombs, provide reconnaissance and surveillance for convoy missions, and alert troops on the ground of any potential troubles during raids.
The platoon is often limited to operating one plane at a time. After testing all its components, the crew fires up the engine that the soldiers joke sounds “like a weed-whacker on steroids.”
A launcher then slingshots the plane into the air at 80 mph.
“It flies off that thing like a bat out of hell,” said Sgt. Jorge Alvarado of Othello, the Shadow crew chief.
A crew of two soldiers operates the plane and monitors the data from Humvees. A nearby satellite constantly adjusts its angle as it sends and receives data. Others inside the operations center watch the feeds on a series of large screens. Missions typically last about five hours.
The Shadow doesn’t carry weapons like its larger unmanned aerial cousin, the Hellfire missile-equipped Predator, but it has offensive capabilities. If the soldiers spot someone planting a bomb, they can call in the coordinates to a higher headquarters. A helicopter gunship can link into the video feeds and pursue the target.
The infrared cameras can alert dismounted troops to the locations of enemies hiding in buildings or in culverts, and an infrared laser strobe can alert soldiers to a suspicious vehicle or to a building during nighttime operations.
“If they’re going into a hotspot – like a house or something – and they start heading in the wrong direction, we can correct them before something goes wrong,” Staff Sgt. Ian Hardie said.
Operators can call in artillery strikes, and on-board software will auto-correct the next round of fire based on the grid coordinates called in and where the mortar or rocket actually landed. The Shadow soon will be equipped with a laser designator that can track a target and allow a nearby battery or gunship to launch air-to-ground or ground-to-ground missiles.
The platoon has had few opportunities to use these offensive capabilities in Iraq, but they could prove useful in Afghanistan, where enemy activity is far higher and poor roadways place a premium on air power.
There are limits to what the Shadow can do, but the platoon occasionally receives strange requests. After a large car bomb exploded in Fallujah earlier this year, the platoon got word that insurgents could be planning to detonate another. Except this one, they were told, could be strapped to a bicycle.
“They told us to put the Shadow in the air and find a bicycle,” platoon leader Lt. Robert Theriault of Oregon said with a smile. “You know how many bicycles there are in Anbar province?”
Not all missions are war-related.
The soldiers launched two planes during January’s provincial elections. They circled polling places and election centers in Ramadi and Fallujah, making sure there was no tampering with custody of the ballots.
Unmanned aerial vehicles could help during the Washington National Guard’s mission back home, said Staff Sgt. Greg Smith of Kent.
It can stay in the air longer than helicopters at a smaller cost, allowing for better aerial surveillance of floods and fires. Its mobility could prove crucial during natural disasters; its entourage of eight Humvees and seven trailers can be set up within hours.
The Shadow could also play a role in drug interdiction by flying over houses suspected of methamphetamine production, or above the U.S.-Canada border.
“We could fly over a meth lab in the middle of the night,” said Smith, who works in surveillance system installation. “Even the most paranoid tweaker won’t be able to hear us.”
blogs.thenewstribune.com/military
Ellie
SCOTT FONTAINE; scott.fontaine@thenewstribune.com
Last updated: March 14th, 2009 12:14 AM (PDT)
AL TAQADDUM, Iraq – High above the skies of Anbar province, the Shadow is watching.
It watches as insurgents plant roadside bombs. It watches as truck convoys snake their way through Fallujah. It watches as Marines raid buildings in Ramadi.
With cameras 5,000 feet above the ground and Washington National Guard operators sitting in front of computer screens miles away, the unmanned aerial vehicle can coordinate indirect fire or alert soldiers about ambushes in waiting.
“These are the kinds of things that are going to put us tankers out of a job; it can just do so much,” said Col. Ronald Kapral, commander of the Guard’s 81st Brigade Combat Team, normally based at Camp Murray south of Tacoma.
A 16-soldier platoon from the 81st operates a squadron of four airplanes at Al Taqaddum, a dusty airbase of mostly Marines in western Iraq. The 11-foot-long plane has infrared cameras that feed information back to the platoon.
The soldiers conduct one or two missions daily, launching the drone skyward and then controlling it and monitoring what it sees from a series of screens in Humvees.
“This has to be the best assignment in the brigade,” said Sgt. Lewis Piper of Seattle, a 45-year-old schoolteacher who works maintenance on the Shadow. “We’re at that really interesting intersection of technology and warfare.”
This is the first time the Washington National Guard has used the Shadow in wartime. It received the four-plane package – with equipment it carries a price tag of $22 million – in March 2008.
The platoon handles missions in Anbar province in western Iraq – especially the cities of Ramadi, Fallujah and Al Taqaddum. Soldiers scan the ground for enemies burying roadside bombs, provide reconnaissance and surveillance for convoy missions, and alert troops on the ground of any potential troubles during raids.
The platoon is often limited to operating one plane at a time. After testing all its components, the crew fires up the engine that the soldiers joke sounds “like a weed-whacker on steroids.”
A launcher then slingshots the plane into the air at 80 mph.
“It flies off that thing like a bat out of hell,” said Sgt. Jorge Alvarado of Othello, the Shadow crew chief.
A crew of two soldiers operates the plane and monitors the data from Humvees. A nearby satellite constantly adjusts its angle as it sends and receives data. Others inside the operations center watch the feeds on a series of large screens. Missions typically last about five hours.
The Shadow doesn’t carry weapons like its larger unmanned aerial cousin, the Hellfire missile-equipped Predator, but it has offensive capabilities. If the soldiers spot someone planting a bomb, they can call in the coordinates to a higher headquarters. A helicopter gunship can link into the video feeds and pursue the target.
The infrared cameras can alert dismounted troops to the locations of enemies hiding in buildings or in culverts, and an infrared laser strobe can alert soldiers to a suspicious vehicle or to a building during nighttime operations.
“If they’re going into a hotspot – like a house or something – and they start heading in the wrong direction, we can correct them before something goes wrong,” Staff Sgt. Ian Hardie said.
Operators can call in artillery strikes, and on-board software will auto-correct the next round of fire based on the grid coordinates called in and where the mortar or rocket actually landed. The Shadow soon will be equipped with a laser designator that can track a target and allow a nearby battery or gunship to launch air-to-ground or ground-to-ground missiles.
The platoon has had few opportunities to use these offensive capabilities in Iraq, but they could prove useful in Afghanistan, where enemy activity is far higher and poor roadways place a premium on air power.
There are limits to what the Shadow can do, but the platoon occasionally receives strange requests. After a large car bomb exploded in Fallujah earlier this year, the platoon got word that insurgents could be planning to detonate another. Except this one, they were told, could be strapped to a bicycle.
“They told us to put the Shadow in the air and find a bicycle,” platoon leader Lt. Robert Theriault of Oregon said with a smile. “You know how many bicycles there are in Anbar province?”
Not all missions are war-related.
The soldiers launched two planes during January’s provincial elections. They circled polling places and election centers in Ramadi and Fallujah, making sure there was no tampering with custody of the ballots.
Unmanned aerial vehicles could help during the Washington National Guard’s mission back home, said Staff Sgt. Greg Smith of Kent.
It can stay in the air longer than helicopters at a smaller cost, allowing for better aerial surveillance of floods and fires. Its mobility could prove crucial during natural disasters; its entourage of eight Humvees and seven trailers can be set up within hours.
The Shadow could also play a role in drug interdiction by flying over houses suspected of methamphetamine production, or above the U.S.-Canada border.
“We could fly over a meth lab in the middle of the night,” said Smith, who works in surveillance system installation. “Even the most paranoid tweaker won’t be able to hear us.”
blogs.thenewstribune.com/military
Ellie