Predator buildup to bring more troops to Nellis

Jace Radke

Thursday, Dec. 2, 2004 | 9:28 a.m.

The Air Force's plan to better use National Guard and Reserve resources through integrated units will bring not only a new Predator squadron to Nellis Air Force Base, but also airmen from around the country for training as more of the in-demand remote-piloted aircraft are put to use.

"I anticipate that the air crews for new Predator squadrons would come to Nellis and Indian Springs for training," said Lt. Gen. Stephen Wood, Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for plans and programs and former Air Warfare Center Commander at Nellis. "Today, every day, every minute of the day we have Predators flying combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq from Nellis.

"As we bring more Predators on line we have the capability to do that in other places as well."

Wood unveiled the Air Force's future force plan Wednesday with several test initiatives involving integrating more experienced guard and reserve personnel into units with the generally younger active duty Air Force members. The plan is designed to increase the Air Force's combat capabilities, including the development of more airmen able to fly and maintain the Predator.

Along with the new integrated Predator unit to be based at the Indian Springs Auxiliary Airfield, about 45 miles northwest of Las Vegas, the initiatives call for two similar Predator units to be stationed at bases at yet to be determined locations in Texas and Arizona.

The initiatives also call for integrated units in Utah, New York, Vermont, and Virginia with missions ranging from fighter squadrons to an FA-22 Raptor training squadron.

A time table has not been established for the new integrated units to become operational, and there are still questions about how the new integrated units would work, Wood said.

One of the issues that needs to be, "ironed out," according to Wood, involves chain of command for the units.

National Guard soldiers' chain of command is linked to the governor of their state under Title 32 of the U.S. Code. Under that section of the code, National Guard soldiers can be called to active duty to serve under the command of the regular armed forces, military officials said.

The units will probably be under an "associate" structure, that would leave guardsmen under the administrative control of their state, but under operational control of the Air Force while working in an integrated unit. An integrated unit could even fall under the command of a reserve officer, Wood said.

Nevada National Guard adjutant general Maj. Gen. Giles Vanderhoof, who has been working toward getting an integrated Predator unit at Indian Springs for four years, said that chain of command can be worked out through cooperation.

Commanding officers would order their soldiers to fall under the command of whoever was the best person for a job or situation, whether it was a guard or reserve officer or an active duty Air Force officer, Vanderhoof said.

The blending of the Air Force's three main components is not anticipated to cause a reduction in personnel for any of the branches, Wood said.

The test units are designed to allow the Air Force to work any kinks out before expanding to other areas within active duty, guard and reserve units.

"It's a great deal for the Air Force and the country," Wood said. "The guardsmen and the reserves that we have at all levels are the cream and we want to bring them aboard so that they can work with our young airmen."

In essence the Air Force gets back more of the investment that has already been made in developing the guard and reserve airmen who began as active duty Air Force members, Wood said.

The National Guard and Reserves already work with the Air Force under Air Mobility Command, which oversees the Air Force's cargo operations, but the initiatives mark the first time that such an arrangement has been attempted in Air Combat Command.

The Nevada Air Guard's Reno-based 152nd Intelligence Squadron was a forerunner to guard and reserve units working together with active duty forces. Since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan until about a month ago the 152nd was responsible for analyzing imagery sent from Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles flying in Southwest Asia.

"We had it down with time critical imagery where we could get it back to the people in theater in 10 minutes," Vanderhoof said. "The difference with this new unit is that we will actually have guard and reserve members flying the missions with the Predator."

Vanderhoof said he expects to begin assigning soldiers for the new unit at Nellis early next year, and expects to eventually have 200 to 300 guardsmen working with Predators at Nellis and Indian Springs.

Nellis' three existing Predator squadrons have been among the busiest units in the Air Force during the past two years. Pilots with Nellis' 15th, 11th and 17th Reconnaissance Squadrons are constantly remotely flying surveillance and attack missions over Afghanistan and Iraq.

In the past year the number of unmanned aerial vehicles in Iraq has jumped from less than 100 to more than 400, as the Predator and its larger cousin the Global Hawk emerge as star weapons systems for the Air Force.

Dyke Weatherington, deputy director of the Pentagon's unmmaned aerial vehicle planning task force, told the American Forces Press Service that the demand for Predators continues from commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"In the global war on terror, persistence is vitally important," Weatherington said in a recent article. "It's important to deny the enemy sanctuary, and constant surveillance in his backyard, so to speak, prevents him the opportunity to mass assets and forces."