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Long Knife launches unmanned aerial vehicle

Photo By Sgt. Rebekah Lampman | The Shadow 200 tactical unmanned aerial vehicle is launched into the air 30 feet...... read more read more

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, NEW MEXICO, UNITED STATES

06.01.2006

Courtesy Story

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WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M."The engines wound and kicked up a storm of dust. Over the noise through the headset, the crew chief heard the command, "Five, four, three, two, one, LAUNCH, LAUNCH, LAUNCH." He pushed the button and watched as his unmanned aerial vehicle was catapulted into the air at nine gravitational (G) forces. In less than a minute, his aircraft had disappeared over the mountain range and had begun its search for targets.

This flight was one of several the UAV Platoon, A Company, Special Troops Battalion, launched during new systems training May 18.

The TUAV, a Shadow 200, is a lightweight, rapidly deployable, reconnaissance system designed to give the commander a day and night, multi-sensor collection system, said Warrant Officer Randall Wise, UAV technician, new systems integration and testing office, Fort Huachuca, Ariz.. "The purpose of the system is to provide the commander with real-time intelligence data in support of missions throughout the range of military operations," he said.

"We're the eyes over the battlefield," said Vaughn. If we have a group Soldiers in danger, we can recon the area faster, more effectively than troops on the ground. We can see over hills and around buildings--things that Soldiers on the ground would have to put themselves in danger in order to effectively complete their mission."

"A lot of people say no one moves on the ground without a UAV up in the air," said Johnson. "Convoys won't be able to move unless we do a recon of the sight. We can help detect IEDs and conduct a sight recon for ground troops before they move out. At a company or battalion level, we can use the UAV to collect intelligence data by sitting on a house and watching to see who's going in and who's coming out. We can also track the weather, convoys, mission operations"we're a full force up in the air."

"This system is to save lives," said Vaughn. "It's definitely an asset that should always be taken seriously."

Some of the system components are the Shadow 200 TUAV and payload, a ground control station, a tactical automated landing system, a launcher, arresting gear, and a remote video terminal.

At just over 11 feet long with nearly a 13-foot wingspan, the Shadow 200, carries the POP 200 payload, its main surveillance and reconnaissance system. "This allows for infrared and real-time color video imaging," explained Sgt. 1st Class Darrell Pena, TUAV platoon sergeant.

"The system can work during nighttime and daytime," said Spc. Jacob Vaughn, UAV operator. "The nighttime camera is an infrared camera. We can zoom in and zoom out. If someone is trying to hide behind the bushes, or trying to conceal themselves, their heat signature will give them away."

The person responsible for operating the POP 200 is the mission payload operator. The MPO sits inside a ground control station with the pilot to let him know whether to slow down, speed up or climb to a higher altitude, explained 2nd Lt. Malikah Johnson, TUAV platoon leader. "The camera can zoom in and out and rotate 360 degrees for enhanced views."

Inside the ground control station the pilot and MPO work together to keep each other informed about what's going on with the UAV. "This is where they monitor the Shadow's altitude, speed, distance to target, and any movement on the ground."

Before the Shadow 200 can launch, several preflight checks have to be completed by the crew chief, maintainers and the operator-pilot.

The crew chief and maintainers conduct the checks to make sure the aircraft is safe to fly and the launcher is powered up and ready, said Spc. Tiffany McConnaughy, military intelligence systems maintainer and integrator. "We go through preflight checks and once we've completed our portion, the operators come out to the launcher and do their checks on the bird, said McConnaughy.

"We do preflights just like you would in a regular aircraft," said Vaughn. "We check the flaps, ailerons and wings. After everything checks out, we put it on the launcher and go back into the [ground control station] and start up the engine. We run the engine until it meets all of the requirements for temperature, revolutions per minute, and stability. After we decide with the crew chief that the engine is quality, we pressurize the launcher and launch the aircraft."

Once the aircraft takes flight, the air vehicle operator (pilot) steers the plane to its targets.

The TUAV can fly several types of missions such as; route, area and zone reconnaissance, intelligence preparation of the battlefield, forward observation, target acquisition, close-air support, combat search and rescue, and battle damage assessment, said Pena.

"We can tap into the tactical operations center and create real-time video for battle captains so they can see what's going on on the battlefield," said Vaughn. "We can call for fire and work with any kind of air support whether it be Air Force F-16s, bombers, or helicopters. We can tap into the liaison officers within the other battalions in our brigade to relay information to them about their troops."

"The TUAV can watch the battlefield," said Vaughn. "We can track missions on the ground like raids and recons, watch for ambushes, and scan for [improvised explosive devices]."

When the Shadow 200 is ready to land and the mission is complete, the system uses a tactical automated landing system to land the plane, which is set up alongside the runway.

"We joke that the TALS is the best pilot we have," laughed Johnson. "It's fool-proof and has never crashed. It shoots out a signal to find and lock on to the bird after the pilot pushes the TALS loiter button. It will then track on the UAV and guide it onto the runway. Once it's on the ground and flies in front of the TALS, TALS will send out a signal to cut the engine and the UAV will glide into the arresting gear," she said.

"The arresting gear is used to stop the plane," said Vaughn "It's like landing on an aircraft carrier. There's a hook under the UAV that catches on straps that are stretched across the runway."

"We have two sets of straps," said McConnaughy. "The hook is supposed to hit the first one, but every now and then it can bounce, which is why you have the second one: for backup. There is also a net at the end of the runway in case the hook doesn't catch either of the straps."

By the day's end, the UAV Platoon had successfully launched and landed five aircraft, each on a different training mission. This was quite an impressive feat, Johnson said, because of their lack of experience with UAVs. "About 95 percent of our platoon are reclasses," said Johnson. "We have well exceeded the standards flying five flights today. This is something the company should be proud of and especially these Soldiers because this isn't something they've been doing their whole Army careers."

The new system training is scheduled to end June 16, but Johnson said they will be staying an additional week after the NET team leaves to build confidence in her team. "We want to show everyone and ourselves that we don't need the instructors watching over us. We are going to use that extra week as a morale booster. We're going to do this by ourselves. We will be ready for anything when we go to [the National Training Center]."