thedrifter
11-17-08, 09:03 AM
Yuma Marines practice with UAVs in Nevada
November 16, 2008 - 6:48PM
BY LANCE CPL. GREGORY AALTO, SUN STAFF WRITER
Yuma-based Marine pilots recently honed their combat skills in a training exercise that included aircraft of the unmanned variety.
Marine Attack Squadron 513 took part in two weeks of training at Creech Air Force Base, Nev., as part of Exercise Cactus Needle, which allowed them to practice integrating their AV-8B Harriers with unmanned aerial vehicles in combat missions.
“The Harriers and UAVs have always worked in close proximity, but this is the first time using them together in a training evolution,” said Air Force Capt. Mark Ferstl, UAV flight instructor, 11th Reconnaissance Squadron.
The southern Nevada terrain gives pilots a realistic feel of Afghani terrain during combat training missions, said Ferstl.
“At Creech’s elevation and terrain, it’s as close to Bagram and Kandahar as you can get,” said Lt. Col. Marcus Annibale, commanding officer of VMA-513. “The operations and equipment aren’t necessarily new things. It’s just the real world use of what (the Department of Defense) already has,” said Air Force Maj. Rob Forino,
11th Reconnaissance Squadron’s assistant director of operations.
Lessons learned during the exercise should help refine Marine Corps UAV integration techniques, said Maj. Kain Anderson, Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron
1 instructor, who accompanied VMA-513 to Creech.
MAWTS-1 is sponsoring a UAV tactics publication, and this training gave Anderson a first hand look at UAV and Harrier integration.
During missions with VMA-513, a Creech-based MQ-1 Predator UAV would identify a target and call for support to fire on the target.
The MQ-1 Predator maintains a laser beacon on the target to assure the accuracy of VMA-513’s precision-guided munitions, said 2nd Lt. Cody Schlenner, VMA-513 intelligence officer.
Radio contact with a different unit makes the communication portion of the training as real as it gets, said Forino.
“Different voices, volumes and military ‘lingo’ in training make it seem very similar to actual combat operations,” said Forino.
“We train how we fight, and this is as real as it gets,” said Capt. Dan Fiust, VMA-513 pilot.
During their time in Creech, VMA-513 ordnance expended about 20,000 pounds of munitions.
The MQ-1 Predator has the ability to carry and drop its own ordnance, and did so in addition to its reconnaissance role during the training.
The squadron maintained seven Harriers flying 10 missions per day during the exercise.
VMA-513 maintenance Marines ensured the squadron’s fleet stayed in the air during the two-week exercise.
Even with “12-on, 12-off” shifts, the workload was still not to the level of squadron participation in Operations Iraqi or Enduring Freedom, said Sgt. Jacob Black,
a powerplants mechanic who deployed in March 2003 with VMA-214.
The training gave those new to the squadron a taste of the type of schedule they will be facing when the unit deploys with a Marine expeditionary unit next year.
----
This story previously appeared in The Desert Warrior, the newspaper of the Marine Corps Air Station.
Ellie
November 16, 2008 - 6:48PM
BY LANCE CPL. GREGORY AALTO, SUN STAFF WRITER
Yuma-based Marine pilots recently honed their combat skills in a training exercise that included aircraft of the unmanned variety.
Marine Attack Squadron 513 took part in two weeks of training at Creech Air Force Base, Nev., as part of Exercise Cactus Needle, which allowed them to practice integrating their AV-8B Harriers with unmanned aerial vehicles in combat missions.
“The Harriers and UAVs have always worked in close proximity, but this is the first time using them together in a training evolution,” said Air Force Capt. Mark Ferstl, UAV flight instructor, 11th Reconnaissance Squadron.
The southern Nevada terrain gives pilots a realistic feel of Afghani terrain during combat training missions, said Ferstl.
“At Creech’s elevation and terrain, it’s as close to Bagram and Kandahar as you can get,” said Lt. Col. Marcus Annibale, commanding officer of VMA-513. “The operations and equipment aren’t necessarily new things. It’s just the real world use of what (the Department of Defense) already has,” said Air Force Maj. Rob Forino,
11th Reconnaissance Squadron’s assistant director of operations.
Lessons learned during the exercise should help refine Marine Corps UAV integration techniques, said Maj. Kain Anderson, Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron
1 instructor, who accompanied VMA-513 to Creech.
MAWTS-1 is sponsoring a UAV tactics publication, and this training gave Anderson a first hand look at UAV and Harrier integration.
During missions with VMA-513, a Creech-based MQ-1 Predator UAV would identify a target and call for support to fire on the target.
The MQ-1 Predator maintains a laser beacon on the target to assure the accuracy of VMA-513’s precision-guided munitions, said 2nd Lt. Cody Schlenner, VMA-513 intelligence officer.
Radio contact with a different unit makes the communication portion of the training as real as it gets, said Forino.
“Different voices, volumes and military ‘lingo’ in training make it seem very similar to actual combat operations,” said Forino.
“We train how we fight, and this is as real as it gets,” said Capt. Dan Fiust, VMA-513 pilot.
During their time in Creech, VMA-513 ordnance expended about 20,000 pounds of munitions.
The MQ-1 Predator has the ability to carry and drop its own ordnance, and did so in addition to its reconnaissance role during the training.
The squadron maintained seven Harriers flying 10 missions per day during the exercise.
VMA-513 maintenance Marines ensured the squadron’s fleet stayed in the air during the two-week exercise.
Even with “12-on, 12-off” shifts, the workload was still not to the level of squadron participation in Operations Iraqi or Enduring Freedom, said Sgt. Jacob Black,
a powerplants mechanic who deployed in March 2003 with VMA-214.
The training gave those new to the squadron a taste of the type of schedule they will be facing when the unit deploys with a Marine expeditionary unit next year.
----
This story previously appeared in The Desert Warrior, the newspaper of the Marine Corps Air Station.
Ellie