by Randy Roughton, Defense Media Activity - San Antonio
BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFNS) -- Staff Sgt. Ryan Conversi's eyes
remain focused on a pair of industrial-strength laptop computers as the time
approaches for the next launch of an RQ-4 Global Hawk on the Beale Air Force
Base flightline.
One of the computers is a vehicle test controller and the other contains
Sergeant Conversi's technical orders. Both help the 12th Aircraft
Maintenance Unit crew chief communicate with the operator as he prepares for
the Global Hawk's next journey over Canada on the way to a forward operating
location in Southwest Asia.
Since April, when the 12th Reconnaissance Squadron's Global Hawks began
flying the northern route, maintainers have noticed an ability to get the
aircraft serviced and back into the forward operation location more
efficiently. The aircraft previously flew from Beale AFB to Naval Air
Station Patuxent River, Md., before continuing the route to Southwest Asia.
The aircraft must return to Beale AFB for critical routine maintenance, so
the new route decreases the time required to transport aircraft between the
two locations.
"We're constantly swapping aircraft out for maintenance to provide the
forward operators with fresh aircraft," said Capt. Gary Toroni, the 12th
Operations Support Squadron flight commander. "The ability to fly through
Canada also affords us the opportunity to not only have the aircraft out
there in a short time period, but also bring them back so we can do service
and maintenance and be able to get them forward-deployed."
The 12th AMU is the first of its kind to provide maintenance and generation
capabilities for the remotely piloted aircraft. Sergeant Conversi and Staff
Sgt. William Murray, a 12th AMU avionics specialist, have both noticed a
decrease in manpower needed for maintenance in the first month the Global
Hawk has flown the new route. The aircraft usually can be prepped within
three hours after landing on the Beale AFB flightline.
"As far as flying over Canada to the (area of responsibility) goes, it just
reduces our timetable for getting the jets transferred over there," said
Master Sgt. Edwin Sims, the 9th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron production
superintendent. "It's basically more efficient. Otherwise, we have to go to
a staging point in between and have people set up there before the aircraft
even gets there. Now, we prep it to go here and it flies all the way. Now
all we have to worry about are the jets coming back, so it cuts down on our
maintenance."
The Global Hawk's first flight on the northern route to Southwest Asia in
April marked its first over Canada on a non-training mission. The new route
has increased the Global Hawk's efficiency by about 50 percent, Captain
Toroni said.
"Efficiency relates to effectiveness, so if we're able to get the aircraft
operating without the variable of sending it to the East Coast before we
forward deploy it, we've got manpower back here to do other missions,
whether they are for Haiti relief or continental United States missions," he
said.
The Global Hawks are assigned to the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing from Beale
AFB and provide a broad spectrum of intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance collection capability to support joint combatant forces in
real-time peacetime, contingency and wartime operations.