Predator units to team up at Indian Springs

Suzanne Struglinski

Friday, Nov. 7, 2003 | 10:59 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A new combination of state and federal military units will help add jobs and more training on certain military equipment in Southern Nevada, according to the National Guard.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., announced Thursday that the Defense Department will integrate the Nevada and California Guardsmen and Air Force Reservists into the Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle units at Indian Springs, about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, near the Nevada Test Site.

This is the first time Nevada will blend federal units and states' units together to share assets, said First Lt. April Conway, public affairs officer for the Nevada National Guard.

Gibbons, a veteran Air Force combat pilot, is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and has been working on the integration idea since 1998, he said earlier today. The integration did not result from a specific piece of legislation but from agreements made within the relevant departments.

"The Guard and Reserve members can bring great experience and stability to a critical Air Force mission -- a mission that is facing a greater need for specialists," Gibbons said in a statement. "The combination of active Guard members from two different states and the Reserve should produce a cost- and mission-effective synergy that has never been experienced in a unit of this type before."

Conway said the integration adds a new unit to Nevada, which could include up to 300 new positions.

"It gives each of the three components access to something they might not otherwise have been able to afford," Conway said. "We've been trying to get a Southern Nevada unit since Gibbons was in our unit."

Through the integration, the National Guard, Air Force Reserve and the Air Force will be able to work together on the Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, an aircraft used for surveillance and reconnaissance activities. Predators been used in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom as well as prior military actions.

Usually one pilot and two sensor operators control the aircraft from inside a ground control station. Conway said the integration will allow for more people to learn how to use the device and more job opportunities in a new and different unit.

Right now, Conway said, all the guard units are in Northern Nevada, so some guard members in Southern Nevada will not have to leave to do drills but can just stay closer to home, although she cautioned that not everyone will be able to cross train.

Gibbons said the integration will help modernize the unit and allow state's national guard members to be involved with the Predator training. California and Nevada will be the only two states with National Guard units involved with the device, he said.

He said when he was recalled to active duty in 1991, he worked side-by-side with people in the guard, reserve and on active duty.

"They are highly capable of dealing with the same technology," Gibbons said, adding they should not be "looked upon as a stepchild of the military."