Drone from Fort Drum will train pilots in flight in a diverse environment

FORT DRUM — From a small control trailer on the ground at Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield, pilots will be able to fly MQ9 Reaper airplanes at 20,000 feet.

The flights are part of a new mission for the Air Force to train pilots and sensor operators to fly the unmanned aircraft. The Reaper is used for intelligence-gathering, combat search and rescue and ground attacks in war zones. The New York Air National Guard’s 174th Fighter Wing, based at Hancock Field, Syracuse, has been conducting drone flights over Afghanistan since November 2009. Now the 174th will work with the 10th Mountain Division to train active duty Air Force, Reserve and Air National Guard operators.

Major Gen. Patrick A. Murphy, commander of the New York Army National Guard and commissioner of the Division of Military and Naval Affairs for the state, said Reapers are state-of-the-art technology that will advance the way wars are fought.

“MQ9 is the leading edge of what the Air Force has to offer today in terms of reconnaissance surveillance and also delivering kinetics on target in the war fight,” he said. “And so the transition from F16 to MQ9 over a period of time puts the 174th and associated units at the front edge of what technology and the Air Force today has to offer to the war fighter.”

The 10,500-pound plane can fly up to 20,000 feet for 15 hours at a time. It cruises at 250 mph and is capable of transmitting full motion video and can perform laser designation. Training missions will take place in two restricted airspaces above Fort Drum and above Lake Ontario. Flying also may stretch out about 30 to 50 miles from Fort Drum.

Col. Kevin Bradley, commander of the 174th Fighter Wing, said the north country provides the various training environments that will prepare trainees for success. Fort Drum’s airspace was valuable and the added space above Lake Ontario “was also a second plum, if you will, as to why it was a good value and a good idea to put the mission here to fly the MQ9 from Fort Drum in that we’ve got access to a second restricted airspace over the lake,” Col. Bradley said. “So not only are we going to be able to train with live weapons in an impact area in and around Fort Drum, but also we can actually take off, spiral up, fly above 18,000 out over Lake Ontario and do maritime operations and coastal operations for our training, so when you look at the value of this one training space, we not only have overland but also have over water. We also have undulating terrain, we’ve got four seasons — we’re not always going to fight in a desert locale with the climates for that. The other thing is that we need to learn how to employ this airplane and fly this airplane in various weather conditions and so this is quite a laboratory we’ve got here.”

The Reapers will be flown three to five times a week both day and night depending on what type of training is needed. The planes are operated from a ground control cockpit, similar to a regular cockpit except the pilots look at computer screens rather than out a window. Speed, fuel levels and surveillance information can be tracked from the ground cockpit.

The information collected stateside will not be kept unless it is footage of a natural disaster such as floods or wildfires, said Col. Chuck Dorsey, vice wing commander of 174th Fighter Wing.

Besides taking off and landing, the Reaper is not expected to drop below 18,000 feet and will remain in the designated airspace permitted by the Federal Aviation Administration, he said.

Col. Dorsey said the MQ9 is more economical than its predecessor, the F16.

“The F16 would run about $5,500 an hour. It would burn about 5,000 pounds of aviation fuel,” he said. “This airplane burns less than 200 pounds of jet fuel. The F16 cost about $30 million and the MQ9 costs about $4 million.”

The most expensive part of the MQ9 is the sensor radar just under the nose of the plane. Col. Dorsey said it costs $1.5 million.