The 'Eyes' Have It

UAV Unit Provides Commander with Visible Battlefield Advantage

Story by Lt. Col. Greg Reeder, HEADQUARTERS MARINE CORPS, Washington Editor's Note: Cpl. C. Alex Herron, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing contributed to this story

Unmanned aerial vehicles in military operations aren't new; they have been around since the Civil War. But their use has come a long way since the northern and southern armies tried unsuccessfully to float explosive-laden balloons into enemy supply and ammunition depots.

AL ASAD, Iraq – Martin Susser, a field service engineer with The Insitu Group, Inc., retrieves a ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle after it returns from a reconnaissance mission over western Iraq. The Insitu Group are part of a small detachment of Marines and civilians making up Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 2. The detachment is deployed here to provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance in western Iraq.

Photo by Sgt. Juan Vara

The earliest successful versions of UAV drones were used to capture images during the Viet Nam War and during the Gulf War, U.S. forces used the Pioneer UAV to conduct reconnaissance on Iraqi positions before bombarding them. This last use of UAVs was so effective that Iraqi forces signaled a Pioneer UAV, fearing if they did not wave white sheets in surrender, that another shelling would soon follow.

Today, aerial robots can navigate by satellite, traveling hundreds of miles while transmitting real-time video, day or night. Commanders can see beyond the horizon, coordinate multiple drones simultaneously and gather myriad information to help save friendly lives and kill the bad guys.

This last aspect may be why Congress mandated that by decade's end UAVs should make up a third aircraft in the operational deep-strike force aircraft fleet.

The Corps has two UAV units able to give Marines a real-time picture of the enemy, without becoming casualties themselves — the Watchdogs and Night Owls of VMU-1 and VMU-2.

As the only two squadrons of their kind in the Corps, each unit deploys consecutively for six months or more at a time to support the Global War on Terrorism. Since their inception in the mid-1980s, the units have flown thousands of hours and combat missions. Today, through 24 hour-a-day operations, seven days a week, the units protect Marines and help the U.S. make a more stable environment in Iraq.

Story continued on Page 2 »