The Predator's War
In the starry skies over the sparse Mojave Desert — far from the pulsating neon lights of Las Vegas — lurks a nearly silent sentinel. It searches among the yucca cactuses and Joshua trees for a lonely radar station atop a mountain peak. The RQ-1 Predator’s infrared eye pierces the night like an owl, capturing the landscape with dreary shades of white, black and gray — not unlike the surface of the moon. Miles away, the crew of the small aircraft — an unmanned aerial vehicle — watches the scenery unfold on a video monitor while the aircraft methodically closes in on its target.
“To sit in a [ground control station] in one country while flying the Predator and looking at targets in another country hundreds of miles away is mind-boggling,” said Capt. Rob Kinerson, a Predator pilot with the 11th Reconnaissance Squadron, Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. “And knowing that we are now directly involved in determining the outcome of battles — and even the war — makes us realize the importance of our mission.”
Just another day on the job for the men and women who fly and maintain the Predator.
The pesky Predator is a medium altitude, long-range aircraft capable of hanging out above a target for more than 20 hours. Its sensor array permits detailed scrutiny of enemy targets using fixed and adjustable lenses, an infrared lens and a synthetic aperture radar.
To an enemy, the Predator is like the unwanted guest who doesn’t want to leave. “Like the mosquito that you hate to have in your tent at night,” Kinerson said. “Not only are we watching, but we’re ready to strike. The enemy won’t sleep knowing it’s only a matter of time until he feels the bite.”
Strong capabilities
Unmanned aircraft have come a long way from their humble beginnings. In years past, the military used pre- programmed drones for target practice on gunnery ranges. That drone misconception still persists in many Air Force circles. But things have changed.
Just as Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell crusaded against traditional military thinking regarding the use of airpower, Predator crews are pushing for greater recognition of their aircraft. They want people to know what the aircraft has accomplished in its short operational life and what it’s capable of doing. Traditionally, the Predator’s foremost mission has been aerial reconnaissance, but the Air Force has discovered that the versatile aircraft has other talents. It can direct close air support missions, act as a killer scout on the battlefield and help protect friendly troops.
“Using its new capabilities and missions, the Predator has evolved into a highly sophisticated and battle-proven warrior,” Kinerson said. “No longer do we simply act as slow-speed cheerleaders watching the war; we now have opportunities to quarterback the team to victory.”
A ground crew controls the Predator with line-of-sight data and satellite links. A newly installed ultra-high frequency radio permits communication over the data links, allowing the crew to “talk” to other aircraft. And pilots fly the Predators. From ground control stations far-removed from the front lines, they can maneuver the Predator just like any other aircraft. Pilots can comply with headings, altitudes and airspeeds directed by air traffic control, just as if they were in the cockpit.
Capt. Joe Rizzuto, a Predator instructor pilot, said that’s crucial to the Predator’s success.
“Having a pilot control the aircraft, even remotely, provides the flexibility required to participate in missions previously reserved for manned aircraft,” he said. Another instructor pilot, Capt. Jon Wozniak, agrees. “As other airframes realize the capabilities of the Predator, our training pace has accelerated significantly,” Wozniak said. “Emerging missions demand a rapid training pace so our crews can learn new ways of doing business.”
Wozniak said Nellis is a perfect Predator base. It’s home to Red Flag, the Air Force’s premier combat training exercise. The realistic training involves aircraft from the Air Force and a host of foreign nations. They mix it up over the vast Nevada Test and Training Range. “No other base can provide the diverse weapons systems required for our integration into the combat air force,” Wozniak said.
Afghan operations
The skills Predator crews learned in the Mojave Desert also help America in the war on terrorism during operations in Afghanistan. The previously unheralded star of Operation Enduring Freedom has turned heads all the way to the White House. But for the airmen who work with the Predator every day, it’s no surprise.
Peculiar-looking, spindly and white, the aircraft roamed the skies over the Balkans and Iraq for years providing aerial reconnaissance in airspace too dangerous for manned platforms. The Predator quickly adapted to the emerging demands of Afghan operations. Its missions there now include force protection, and fighter and close air support.
“What I do is important,” said Airman 1st Class Adam Fields, a sensor operator with the 11th Reconnaissance Squadron. “By having my video feed sent to commanders throughout the [theater] and having them make critical and sometimes life-saving decisions based on my video feed, I’m making a vital contribution. I know when I deploy in a contingency that I’m going to save lives, and I know I’ll help determine the course of an operation. There’s nowhere else in the world where I can do this operationally. I don’t ever want to stop.”
The Predator’s emerging popularity is a direct result of its successes in the war on terrorism.
At any given time, a Predator is airborne over Afghanistan shadowing suspected terrorist hideouts. Force protection is one key area where it has proved its mettle, providing intelligence for ground commanders, scouting and even locating a lost patrol of Marines.
Today, many ground forward air controllers don’t want to deploy without a Predator overhead, Rizzuto said. “At first, they didn’t want anything to do with us,” he said. “But when we were able to scout ahead, reporting on enemy positions around the next bend in the road or over a hill, their attitudes changed.”
Rizzuto said force protection missions have been the most rewarding tasks. “Even more so than blowing things up,” he said. “But if we can help the guys on the ground and still blow things up, so much the better.”
Operations in Afghanistan have shed light on the Predator’s other capabilities. In its killer-scout role, the aircraft can operate as an airborne forward air controller locating targets for waiting strike aircraft. Its pilot directs the strike, providing target information, altitude and geographic deconfliction. The Predator also provides attack aircraft run-in and egress headings.
“Killer-scout allows us to strike targets that never would have been hit in the past,” Rizzuto said. “Target approval is now accomplished in minutes, not days.”
After a strike, Predators can provide commanders with instant battle damage assessment. That allows for immediate follow-on strikes if necessary. And what a Predator sees it can easily uplink via satellite to command and control forces. This gives battlefield commanders real-time feedback allowing them to make quick decisions affecting enemy targets. In the past, those targets may have slipped away unharmed long before fighters arrived.
“The Predator has a better perspective of the battlefield than a ground forward air controller,” Wozniak added. “And it can go closer to threats than a manned airborne forward air controller like the OA-10 aircraft.”
This same perspective allowed the Predator to work close air support missions with ground units fighting in Afghanistan. And since it can remain above a target longer than most aircraft, the Predator can direct strikes in proximity with ground forces if needed.
Close air support
The aircraft’s close air support role mirrors its killer-scout role, with the key difference being target determination, Wozniak said. During a close air support mission, a ground commander chooses which targets will be hit. But a killer-scout crew finds the targets. In either case, the Predator coordinates with available fighters and uses them accordingly. Rizzuto said it’s important to identify the correct target because a missed target could have severe ramifications for nearby friendly troops.
What happens when a Predator crew discovers a significant target and there are no fighters nearby? A test at the Nellis range last year proved the Predator can also strike targets. Armed with Hellfire missiles, Predators became hunters and destroyed stationary and moving targets.
Now, a Predator that uncovers an enemy site can identify the target, mark it with a laser and launch its missile long before other strikers converge on the scene, Wozniak said. This is critically important when the target is on the move.
“A Predator strike can prevent its escape before fighters arrive,” he said.
The addition of the Hellfire missile-packing Predator will open a new window of warfare, Kinerson said. It will introduce a truly multirole and unmanned aircraft capable of significantly influencing a war. “With the Hellfire, the Predator can watch a potential target for hours then, single-handedly, eliminate it without ever having to put an aircrew at risk,” Kinerson said. “It’s like combining the best of our reconnaissance and strike assets for a fraction of the cost and almost none of the risk.”
The Predator’s Enduring Freedom successes are paving the way for newer unmanned aerial vehicle systems like Global Hawk, Predator B and the unmanned combat aerial vehicle — the first unmanned aircraft specifically designed for air combat. With every victory, the Predator solidifies the Air Force’s commitment to the unmanned aircraft.
Maj. Gen. Glen Shaffer, the Air Force’s chief of intelligence, said, “Predator operations in Operation Enduring Freedom have had a hugely significant impact to the future of Air Force warfighting. [Predator crews] have fundamentally changed command and control of the air battle.”
The Predator can be best viewed as a pioneer, just like the early biplanes over France in World War I, Kinerson said. And just like the rapid evolution from a reconnaissance role to armed fighters and bombers during that tumultuous war, Operation Enduring Freedom has provided the catalyst for the evolution of the unmanned aircraft.
“It may be just a matter of time before the world’s first UAV ace claims a place among the legendary aviators of the past, racking up kills from a remote ground control station miles from the action,” Kinerson said. “General Mitchell would have been proud.”
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