Photo By Sgt. Christian Dejohn | Cpl. Joe Swift, 1/175th Infantry, Maryland Army National Guard, prepares a Raven...... read more read more
FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. – As children, many people play with remote controlled trucks, boats, and airplanes. Few are lucky enough to have a career that trains you to use essentially the same skill to perform a vital battlefield mission.
Soldiers from the Pennsylvania and Maryland Army National Guard who participated in the RQ11-B, or Raven, Unmanned Air Vehicle course here this month are training to do exactly that.
The course is open to any soldier whose unit will send them.
"We had an Army chef of the year do the course," said Lance Urenda, flight instructor for team one. There were four teams with four members each participating in the exercise.
The goal of the exercise was to use the Raven to perform aerial reconnaissance within the area of operations.
UAVs save lives in theater by providing real-time information about terrain, conditions, and enemy forces, said Urenda.
The 36-inch vehicle is equipped with two cameras that shoot video and still images. It can also zoom in on targets and chart their grid coordinates on a map.
"Let's get some birds in the air!" said Sgt. Paul Bartolone, who was in charge of overseeing the training of all four groups for the duration of the course.
"I'm the best at takeoffs. I can get this thing to take off anywhere," said Spc. Thomas Renwick, 1/107th Field Artillery, PAARNG, daring the windy conditions on the exposed hilltop to mess up his launch.
The Raven is launched by hand and takes off at a speed of 25 mph. It makes a buzzing noise during takeoff, but remains quiet for the rest of its 30-minute mission.
The Raven is both tough and fragile. It is sensitive to wind conditions, made of foam, and often comes apart during landing. It is also coated in Kevlar and retains functionality in an attack unless the fuselage is destroyed, said Urenda.
Two soldiers control the flight from the ground- the mission operator and the vehicle operator. The mission operator is really in control, acting as the "puppet-master" to the VO, according to Staff Sgt. Clarence Clark, 1/107th FA.
"With team one, it pretty much sets itself up," said Clark, referring to the flight control devices.
The pair of soldiers operating the Raven must work as a seamless team to ensure the success of the mission. Team one consists of Clark and Renwick from the PAARNG and two soldiers from the 1/175th Infantry Division of the Maryland Army National Guard, Sgt. Don Neuer and Cpl. Joe Swift.
"These guys are doing really well. It's been a good class," said Urenda.
Team one and the soldiers in the other teams training to become qualified Raven operators may or may not be fulfilling a childhood dream of getting paid to operate a remote-controlled airplane, but they are learning to use a new technology that helps win real battles by providing real-time intelligence and reconnaissance.
| Date Taken: | 05.19.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 05.22.2010 11:00 |
| Story ID: | 50097 |
| Location: | FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 889 |
| Downloads: | 222 |
This work, National Guard Soldiers become UAV Pilots, by SFC Zane Craig, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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