Tuesday, March 2, 2004 | 10:45 a.m.
Over the last year Nellis-based military personnel have been piloting planes over the skies of Iraq, but have been able to return to their Las Vegas homes after each mission.
Hundreds of missions using the remote-piloted aircraft known as the Predator have been flown from Nellis Air Force Base during Operation Iraqi Freedom, said Brig. Gen. Greg Ihde, 57th Wing commander.
"We've been up pretty much 24 hours a day and seven days a week," Ihde said, referring to the operations level of Nellis 15th Reconnaissance Squadron. "We launch the aircraft in Iraq and then we're able to pick them up with a satellite link and drive them from Nellis."
Ihde said that Predators have been remotely piloted from Nellis in Iraq and Afghanistan since February 2003, and have been involved in high-profile missions.
Members of the 15th piloted a Predator above U.S. ground forces near Tikrit, Iraq on Dec. 13, providing surveillance and real-time images to commanders as soldiers converged on Saddam Hussein's spider hole.
An Air Force spokesman said that the Predator operators, who were in a trailer at Nellis while Hussein was being hunted more than 7,000 miles away, did not know that the surveillance mission they were assigned would become part of the dictator's capture.
And when U.S. Special Forces were removing captured Army Pvt. Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi hospital last April a Nellis-piloted Predator was flying overhead providing video images of the hospital and surroundings to commanders in Iraq and at Nellis.
A March 24 Hellfire missile strike against a mobile anti-aircraft weapons system in Al Amarah, Iraq, was the first documented kill by an Air Force-piloted Predator. Nellis-flown Predators have also provided reconnaissance, and relayed global positioning information or designated targets with lasers, allowing missiles to home in.
The 27-foot-long Predators are launched from a U.S. airbase in Ballad, Iraq, and once in the air they can be taken over by pilots in control units at Nellis that are about the size of a horse trailer.
"We can drive them anywhere in the world because of the satellite links," Ihde said of the planes that can stay in the air for about 20 hours at a time. "There is a two-second real time delay between the operators here and what the plane does, but that's not much when you consider the plane is halfway around the world."
If the satellite link is lost the Predators are programmed to fly back to their takeoff point where an operator on the ground can re-establish control once the aircraft is within reach of ground-based radio signal.
Only six Predators have been lost -- three were shot down and three crashed due to mechanical or pilot errors -- since they went into use three years ago.
Currently the Air Force uses RQ-1 and MQ-1 Predators, with the RQ models used for reconnaissance and the MQ models used as weapons platforms for Hellfire missiles. The aircraft weigh about 2,250 pounds and have an engine about the size of a snowmobile engine.
From 10,000 feet the aircraft can relay real-time pictures that can show buildings and even people, Ihde said.
They can fly between 70 and 120 mph and reach altitudes of 20,000 feet. The MQ models can carry two Hellfire missiles that can strike targets up to five miles away. Predators cost about $3.65 million apiece, and Nellis' 15th and 11th Reconnaissance Squadrons have about 30 to 40 of the aircraft.
The 15th, a deployable squadron, and the 11th, a training squadron, are both based at the Indian Springs Auxiliary Field, about 45 miles northwest of Las Vegas. A new deployable squadron, the 17th, is expected to be fully operational in Indian Springs in August after it gets its allotment of Predators.
The newer MQ-9 or Predator B is a larger version of the MQ-1 that is being built by General Atomics and being tested by the Air Force. This newer Predator will weigh 10,000 pounds, reach speeds of 250 mph, and be able to reach altitudes of 40,000 feet.
The MQ-9 will also be able to carry six Hellfire missiles, and is currently scheduled to be in use at Nellis by Spring 2005. When it is ready pilots in Las Vegas will remotely fly the aircraft to Nellis straight from the General Atomics factory in Southern California, just as they do with the current RQ-1 and MQ-1 versions.
The Predator doesn't look imposing with its skinny frame and bulbous nose, but it has become a workhorse for the military, Ihde said.
"You look at it and it's got this little engine and wheels that look like they belong on a lawnmower," Ihde said. "They have the capability to hang out for 20 hours without refueling and that's something we can't do with an aircraft with a pilot inside.
"The RQ-1 and MQ-1 are the first step, and we're going to continue to improve on this capability."
archive
