Silently surveying surroundings

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. A.C. Eggman
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  At first glance, it appears to be an airplane model a child might pull off a local toy-store shelf. But unlike the recreational remote aircraft, this force-protection asset is no toy. The 7-pound aircraft allows security forces to see beyond what the human eye can see and silently survey the surroundings without anyone knowing it. It cannot be heard and sometimes is mistaken for a bird.

The 332nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron here is equipped with the latest in unmanned aerial vehicle technology -- the Force Protection Airborne Surveillance System. The system allows security forces to see beyond Balad’s perimeters and provides accurate, real-time visual assessments of detected threats.

“It flies real time -- no delays -- on scene surveillance we have traditionally not had, especially in a deployed environment,” said Tech. Sgt. Lloyd Joyner, 332nd ESFS noncommissioned officer in charge of the FPASS.

Named Desert Hawk, the miniature unmanned aerial vehicle is made mainly of a Styrofoam-like material and is very simple to operate.

“It’s relatively easy to fly,” said Sergeant Joyner, deployed from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. “Real simple to launch too … you just touch the screen on the laptop to fly it.”

Desert Hawk is able to take off from a clearing without using a runway. It also allows security forces to monitor potentially dangerous areas without putting any airmen or soldiers into harms way.

“It gives you the ability to see what the enemy is doing before you engage them,” said Senior Airman Joe Barrientos of the 332nd ESFS, also deployed from Shaw.

The Desert Hawk field support kit comes with six airframes, a ground control station and remote video terminal. Its cameras record every flight on a mini digital tape recorder, while the operator watches the images on a laptop computer.

To launch the UAV, the operators use a bungee cord catapult. The system is powered by rechargeable batteries that have about a 60-minute lifespan. The 52-inch wide, 32-inch long UAV can fly up to an altitude of 500 feet, but here the UAV is restricted to 200 feet above ground level. Flying it any higher is not practical because it could fly into the path of a manned aircraft, Sergeant Joyner said.

“One of the biggest advantages of the Desert Hawk is being able to fly under the (weather) ceiling,” Sergeant Joyner said. “They (other UAV platforms) can’t.”

Like manned aircraft crews, the FPASS team must file a flight plan, coordinate with the control tower and get weather updates before launching. Once the flight plan and other pertinent information are loaded into the Desert Hawk system, it is time to launch.

Launching is as low-tech as the airframe’s payload is high-tech. The operator holds a bungee cord that is attached to the airframe. One person “walks the bungee cord out” until it reaches maximum extension. The aircraft uses the force of the bungee cord to catapult into the air, and the engine starts running when the aircraft reaches 50 feet per second.

While the aircraft travels on its preloaded flight plan, the operators watch the flight path and details on the laptop and video monitor, which receives the video feed from a camera mounted on the underside of the aircraft. All information is recorded and saved on the ground-control station.

Sergeant Joyner and Airman Barrientos carry out multiple Desert Hawk missions every day. Missions are limited to the amount of time it takes to reprogram the system and load a new flight plan. Desert Hawk can operate day or night.

“It’s a nice asset,” Sergeant Joyner said. “I like its mobility; its rapid ability to launch in a minimal amount of time.”

It may look like a model toy and appear to be bird in flight, but to the people who operate the system, Desert Hawk is a valuable asset that can keep the enemy at bay and airmen and soldiers out of harms way.