Beale Airmen Assist With RQ-4 Naval Deployment
In what could prove to be the first step toward creating a joint
RQ-4 Unmanned Aircraft System training unit, pilots of the 1st
Reconnaissance Squadron at California's Beale Air Force Base are
teaching a class of Navy pilots the Global Hawk system.
The class, consisting of three active-duty P-3 Orion pilots and
one civilian contractor, came about as a response to the secretary
of defense's call to maximize the intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance capability in support of the war on terrorism. Navy
officials are looking to the Air Force to assist in expediting
their pending RQ-4 Global Hawk deployment, one reason the normally
five-month course is being condensed to four.
"This is the initial Navy RQ-4 class, which is on an accelerated
course," said Lt. Col. Scott Coon, 1st RS director of operations.
"They are getting top priority. We bumped our regularly scheduled
October class back by one month in order to fit the Navy pilots
in."
Navy officials, who currently don't have a Global Hawk training
program, will use the training Beale pilots provide to install
their own Global Hawk presence in the Central Command area of
operations by next year.
Based on the experience Beale aircrews have in training pilots
to employ the Global Hawk, Colonel Coon said the 9th Reconnaissance
Wing was a natural choice for the Navy when it came to deciding on
where to send their pilots for training.
With more than 20,000 RQ-4 combat flying hours, Beale Airmen
have racked up 75 percent of the total Global Hawk flying hours
since the program's inception in 1998.
"We have trained our coalition partners," Colonel Coon said.
"Now we are training our joint brethren to rapidly employ combat
capability into the fight. Beale is postured to be a joint,
interagency and multinational training base for high altitude
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance UASs."
More than 100 US, Australian and German pilots have been trained
to fly the Global Hawk, with more becoming mission-qualified every
month at a rate that has doubled in the last year, according to
Colonel Coon.
"They (the Navy) want to take advantage of our years of
experience, the mistakes we've made and the lessons we've learned
and incorporate them into their own training program," he said.
"After this class graduates, they can do one of two things; they
can continue to have us train their pilots until they grow enough
experience to establish their own training program, or we can work
together to establish a joint training program."
In addition to providing pilot training for the Navy's new
Global Hawk deployment, Beale's 9th RW Airmen will support their
maritime Global Hawk mission until Naval personnel are fully
trained to take over next year.
The RQ-4 Global Hawk, the Navy's choice for the service's
unmanned aircraft system, is slated for testing in the AOR with
their new Broad Area Maritime Surveillance platform. Eventually,
Navy officials plan to use the RQ-4 and the P-8A Poseidon aircraft
to replace the P-3 Orion, which is a large, four engine aircraft
used for anti-submarine warfare, maritime patrol and
reconnaissance.
"We are training to be fully mission-qualified in the RQ-4 Block
10's, of which the Navy owns two," said Navy Lt. Mike Anderson, a
Global Hawk student. "In the spring, we are going to deploy those
Global Hawks, and with Navy pilots behind the wheel, we're going to
test the Global Hawks with some maritime missions."
The Navy's two contractor-operated Global Hawk Maritime
Demonstrator RQ-4s are currently flown out of Patuxent River Naval
Air Station, MD.
While focused on assisting the Navy deployment, Colonel Coon
stated that hosting the first class of Navy pilots may prove to be
the first step toward creating a joint training environment. He
added that if a formal joint training unit were to happen, it would
inevitably become a mix of Navy and Air Force instructors.
Currently Vance Air Force Base, OK is the Air Force's only joint
specialized undergraduate pilot training base, with more than 400
Air Force, Navy and Marine pilots. Although it wouldn't be the
first time Airmen have worked with personnel in other branches of
service for joint training, it would be a first at Beale.