Defence News
Birds have big impact
12 July 2010
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The modern battlefield seems to rely on better armour and bigger weapons, but a small group of Australian soldiers at Multinational Base Tarin Kowt is making a big impact without bullets or bombs.
Gunner Joe Hennessey, 20 Surveillance Targeting and Acquisition Regt, loves flying and has followed his passion for model helicopters into a career as an air vehicle operator. He said flying the UAVs, or 'birds', was the best job he could hope to find.
"I fly the bird, which is largely automated, but I am also trained in maintenance and preparation," he explained. "In flight, the UAV pretty much looks after itself, but the launch and recovery is where things can possibly go wrong quickly and the bird is vulnerable; that's where I really earn my money."
The UAVs can be in the air for more than eight hours at a time and can carry out a variety of tasks and missions to provide real-time information to commanders on the ground. They also have the versatility to support patrols or conduct fixed location surveillance, deterrence or counter-IED missions.
"When we are operating in the direct support role, we feed a constant flow of information to the patrols on the ground and that directly effects how the commander reacts," Gunner Hennessey said.
"I fly almost every day and every mission is different; I know I am making a difference."
Detachment commander Lieutenant Ben Allan-Agnew said the technology allowing the UAV to be deployed remotely had improved rapidly since the ADF acquired the equipment.
"The mountains here have always been problematic but with operators in different locations we can now take control and put the bird where it is needed," he explained.
"We used to have to deploy a container, similar to the control centres shown in the movie Avatar, but now we can be mobile in a Bushmaster or static with a man-pack system. The operating procedures are now more streamlined so it is no longer the logistical problem it used to be."
Major Chris Flear, Officer Commanding the Tarin Kowt UAV mission, praised the achievements of his detachment, especially given their small manpower and footprint.
"We are an integral part of the overall coalition effort in gathering battlespace information," he said.
"We have the ability to scope the whole operational area and get a feel for the dynamic and what people or vehicles are moving around, both before and after an event. We are able to build an intelligence picture through sustained surveillance about who is doing what, when, where and why."
Major Flear explained that because the UAVs were a relatively new capability to the ADF, how best to deploy them was still in the developmental stage.
"It takes a period of time to develop skills but as time goes by and the birds become more commonplace, force elements will work out better ways to employ them," Major Flear said.