UAS Program Offers Hands-On Leadership
September 30, 2011
No A-10 Thunderbolt IIs are not flying over the Air Force Academy with live munitions, but someone listening to chatter in the Unmanned Aerial System program’s ground control station here would be forgiven for not thinking otherwise as cadets communicate with an instructor simulating an A-10 pilot.
“Falcon 02, Hog 25, checking in. Mission: Alpha Foxtrot 078, two alpha-10s. Position: Bullseye 030 for 30 nautical at angels one five with mavericks, GBU-12s and 30 mikemike; 90 minutes play time,” the instructor says. “Standing by nine-line.” “Hog 25, Falcon 02, authenticate: yankee golf bravo,” says one of the cadets in the control station. “Falcon 02, Hog 25, Sierra,” the instructor replies. “One, two, three: not applicable. Four: 6,525 feet. ...”
While the A-10s are not real, the Aerosonde Mark IV remotely piloted aircraft is. The small, catapult-launched aircraft is part of the Air Force Academy’s UAS program, now in its third year as one of the airmanship programs available here for upperclassmen. The UAS program introduces cadets to the basics of UAS operations, tactics, techniques and procedures using scenarios based on operational Air Force missions. Cadet leaders present instructions using the building block approach to ensure the crew is trained and prepared for each sortie flown and knows the skills needed for more difficult scenarios. Cadets develop a sense of tactical employment, close-air support and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
(Kip Warton, an instructor with the 557th Flying Training Squadron’s UAS program, contributed to this report.)
See the article here.