MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga -- Soaring through the sky is an object as sleek and agile as a bird. As it descends over a crowd, its details and visibility are hard to see, but eventually appears to be a small model plane. Identifying this plane is a special team of individuals using tools to track this object -- the RQ-11 B Raven small unmanned aircraft system.
Knowing that the Raven can fly at high altitudes without being detected by the human eye to gather aerial intelligence gives its qualified operators from the 820th Base Defense Group confidence in their ability to complete their reconnaissance mission.
“My confidence in the Raven is pretty high,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jeremy Jackson, 820th Combat Operations Squadron NCO in charge of SUAS. “It has the ability to see what we, as humans, can’t see. This tool improves [our ability] in conducting our mission by ensuring the safety of our ground support efforts, which is vital.”
According to Master Sgt. Elizah Mitchell, 820th Combat Operations Squadron NCO in charge of innovative combat equipment, the Raven’s capability to go out and scan a target area through intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance is a force multiplier with its ability to increase effectiveness.
“The Raven gives us additional steps of security that most units don’t have,” said Mitchell. “The capability for it to save lives by being that aerial force multiplier absolutely helps us out. If we didn’t have it, there might potentially be life or death circumstances that we can’t see and potentially prevent without the Raven’s help.”
The Raven is relied on for quick support as opposed to relying on heavy-duty aircraft that sometimes aren’t within close proximity of a target area.
“The Raven provides immediate air support and can be launched in any location,” said Jackson. “As opposed to relying on a fixed-wing aircraft that may be 15 minutes away, we have the option of launching the Raven in a shorter time span. The average assembly of a Raven [takes] minutes, but our qualified operators consistently conduct flight hours to stay proficient.”
Mitchell added that maintaining this proficiency requires Raven qualified operators to consistently conduct flights to stay current with their skills and be ready at a moment’s notice.
“At the [820th BDG], we predominantly are a train-to-deploy unit and we conduct flight hours often to stay current in our proficiency,” said Mitchell. “We have to stay current because it’s vital when we’re involved in real-world operations. The more we train, the better we become at [performing Raven mission capability demonstrations]. We emphasize the importance of improving our skills, which are perishable if you don’t consistently utilize and enhance your capabilities.”
Mitchell added that the capabilities the Raven provides make the 820th BDG a unique entity among the security forces world.
“The SUAS platform is a small aspect of all of our specialties within the 820th BDG which definitely increases our ability to complete the overall mission,” said Mitchell. “We’re able to provide things that most [security forces] units can’t do.”
Mitchell states that having the Raven is part of what separates the 820th BDG from the rest of the security forces world. Its diverse capabilities improve their tactics to complete the mission and get the job done.