Home » Archives » "Model planes earn their stripes in war"

Model planes earn their stripes in war

Jan-26-2008 » Filed Under: 4/2 SBCT

By Richard Tomkins, The Washington Times

FORWARD OPERATING BASE NORMANDY, Iraq — Flying model airplanes might not seem like fit work for grown men, especially soldiers.

But the use of "unmanned aerial vehicles," or UAVs, is transforming the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, providing U.S. commanders with real-time reconnaissance, surveillance and target-acquisition data that was never available before.

"We're not rated as pilots," said Sgt. Thomas Oberman of Portsmouth, Va., as he controlled a UAV in flight near Baqouba in Diyala province, a front line in the latest U.S. offensive against al Qaeda holdouts north of Baghdad.

"We have no illusions about that, but we"re well-versed in air operations, weather, everything that comes into getting the bird up and on mission." [...]

"They haven't been able to arm [the Shadow] yet because of the weight, but we do a lot of coordination with the air-weapons teams, the Apache [attack helicopters]," said Lt. Jason Siler. "So we're kind of the hunter and they're the killers."

Lt. Siler is with Delta Troop, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, attached to the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the Army's 2nd Infantry Division. The unit is responsible for four Shadows that fly from Forward Operating Base Normandy in Baqouba.

At least one of the unit's aircraft is in the air round-the-clock to give the brigade a constant flow of real-time information and pictures of activity in their sector. That activity could be the movements of an al Qaeda unit, suspect vehicles, blocked roads or a bird's-eye view of terrain.

[...]


Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by a site administrator before your comment will appear. We appreciate your patience.)

Advertisements