US Air Force Special Operations Command has taken its rapid-deploy strategy to a new fleet of aircraft: unmanned Predators.
Special operators have recently tested their ability to load two MQ-1 Predators onto a C-17, deploy and set up at an expeditionary base within four hours of landing, said Brig. Gen. Buck Elton, the director of plans, programs, requirements and assessments for Air Force Special Operations Command.
“We are able to rapidly deploy [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] capability to an area that didn’t have the pipes and infrastructure that could support what we wanted to do,” Elton said Monday at the Air Force Association’s Air and Space Conference.
The command has created a “cradle” system to load the Predators onto a C-17, along with a control terminal, maintenance tent and crew.
In a recent deployment, airmen set up a portable hangar in a tent and a wooden taxiway to operate MQ-1s for a six-week period, Elton said. He did not disclose the country that accepted the base, but in February aircrews deployed to Niger to help provide intelligence for a French operation in Mali.
Elton said the command is improving on the process, and looking to be able to forward deploy the larger MQ-9 Reaper in the same way within “a couple years.”
Source: Air Force Times