Defence News
Flying solo with Heron
18 August 2010
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Army has a lone soldier working with Air Force's Heron detachment deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Lieutenant Ben Mackey is playing a pivotal role supporting Mentoring Task Force 1 and Special Operations Task Group soldiers on the ground.
Usually a Kiowa pilot with 6 Aviation Regiment in Sydney, he has changed roles as a Heron payload operator.
"My job is to operate the cameras on the aircraft and work with the Air Force imagery analysts and intelligence officers to make assessments on what’s happening on the ground," Lieutenant Mackey explained.
He took on the role after he'd completed his Kiowa pilot course last year.
"When I was on leave late last year, I got a call from the aviation training centre at Oakey asking if I would like to take on the role for this deployment," he said.
"At the beginning of the year, I did a month of theoretical training in Australia and then went to Canada for a month of practical flight training.
"We deployed to Afghanistan in late April."
After six years of Army pilot training working with Heron was something he never thought he would do.
"To go away and do something else for a while was something completely unexpected for me."
Despite not working in his primary role flying a Kiowa, he is enjoying being deployed for the first time.
"It's been a great experience seeing how the Air Force operates and how the battle space effects are coordinated, which is something I wouldn't have seen with my career progression where it is now," Lieutenant Mackey said.
He said he would pass on his experiences back in Australia to his aviation colleagues.
"I can tell them this is how [operations are] really being performed over here as opposed to how we are training for operations," he said.
"This will be quite valuable for a lot of our guys back at my unit, some of whom are slotted to fly Tiger aircraft in the future."
The Heron detachment consists of more than 25 personnel; operating two Israeli Aircraft Industries-designed Heron UAVs.
The unit's role is to provide timely intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support to Australian and Coalition forces in Regional Command South area of Afghanistan.
Heron detachment commander, Wing-Commander Tim Creevey, said the aircraft was classified as a tier-four, medium-altitude, long-endurance aircraft.
"We fly two different missions. One is direct support to troops on the ground, where we interact directly with them, making them aware of any threats near them or on their travel route," he explained.
"The second is intelligence collection, where we fly out to do reconnaissance on areas of interest."
The highlight for Lieutenant Mackey is having the ability to directly interact with Australian ground forces.
"It's quite rewarding – to be able to support Australians on the ground is unreal."