New York Army National Guard Soldiers Train with Army's Newest Unmanned Aerial Reconnaissance Vehicles

Sixteen soldiers from the New York Army National Guard's 27th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, Detachment 1, Company B, are training with the Army's newest unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicles, the RQ-7 "Shadow" at Fort Drum, NY. The training is part of the unit's new equipment fielding, providing maintenance and operations Soldiers with experience in launching and recovering the aircraft and providing communications direct to the ground control station in the brigade command post. The training is a crucial step for the unit's expected mobilization and deployment to Afghanistan in late 2011 and early 2012.

Key Takeaways:

• The New York Army National Guard's 27th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, Detachment 1, Company B, is training with the Army's newest unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicles, the RQ-7 "Shadow" at Fort Drum, NY.
• The training involves approximately 16 soldiers from Detachment 1, who come from hometowns in Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, New York City, and Pennsylvania.
• The RQ-7 "Shadow" is a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) used by the United States Army and Marine Corps, with the ability to locate and identify targets up to 125km from a brigade tactical operations center.
• The training is part of the unit's new equipment fielding, providing maintenance and operations Soldiers with experience in launching and recovering the aircraft and providing communications direct to the ground control station in the brigade command post.
• The unit is expecting mobilization and deployment to Afghanistan in late 2011 and early 2012.
• The training is scheduled for Friday, April 15, 2011 at 2 p.m. at Fort Drum's Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System training site.

Statistics:

• 16 soldiers from the New York Army National Guard's 27th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, Detachment 1, Company B, are training with the RQ-7 "Shadow" UAV.
• The RQ-7 "Shadow" has an optical and infrared camera that relays video in real time to a ground control station (GCS) up to 125km away.
• The UAV is launched from a trailer-mounted pneumatic catapult and recovered with the aid of arresting gear similar to jets on an aircraft carrier.

Sources:

• "Media Opportunity" press release by the State of New York.
• RQ-7 "Shadow" unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) information from the United States Army.
• Additional information from the DMNA (Division of Military and Naval Affairs) website: http://dmna.state.ny.us/