An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

380AEW Article

Global Hawk mission success relies on teamwork

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Amanda Savannah
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  (Editor's note: The last name of one person in this story was withheld due to operational security concerns.)

Aircraft deployed to the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing can carry a crew sized anywhere from one to more than 20 people.

The crew for one of the wing's frames however, isn't actually carried by the aircraft.

The RQ-4 Global Hawk is an unmanned aircraft system that provides intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR, capability worldwide. Its mission is to provide a broad spectrum of ISR collection capability to support joint combatant forces in worldwide peacetime, contingency and wartime operations.

At the 380th AEW, "our airframe supports the warfighter on the ground," said Maj. Carl, 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron Global Hawk director of operations. "The stuff that we do is going to help them accomplish their mission safely."

Though the Global Hawk is unmanned, it takes teamwork on the part of several people to accomplish its air tasking order.

The Global Hawk is flown by a launch recovery element and a mission control element. The pilots here are part of the LRE, which launches and recovers the aircraft while it is en route to and from the target area.

Carl said the LRE consists of the pilot and a shelter chief, who communicate with the crew chief preparing the jet, and with air traffic control to coordinate the launch. He said they also talk with a "hawkeye," which is a person who drives a vehicle next to the Global Hawk while it is taxiing, to be the pilot's eyes on the ramp.

The pilot's job is to monitor the aircraft, tell it what to do through command and control data links, and watch for any advisories indicating something is malfunctioning on the airplane, the DO said.

The LRE also communicates with the MCE. The MCE, located stateside, controls the Global Hawk for the bulk of the ISR mission. Carl said the MCE includes a pilot and sensor operator, who fly the aircraft and collect imagery to send to the Distributed Common Ground System, which analyzes the information.

The communication doesn't end with the pilot elements. Several specialties make up the Global Hawk aircraft maintenance unit, and each one plays a part in communicating for a successful mission.

Maintainers include crew chiefs, electric environmental Airmen, avionics specialists and ground communications specialists. Airman 1st Class Jamal Spearmon is a 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Global Hawk ground communications specialist.

"I give the pilot everything he needs to be able to fly the aircraft," said Spearmon, a Washington, D.C., native deployed from Beale AFB, Calif. "Then whenever there's a launch or recovery, I'm also there with them to make sure that everything goes smoothly, that they get the jet back on the ground and everything is normal."

Staff Sgt. Michael Newsom is a 380th EAMXS Global Hawk crew chief.

"Crew chiefs are there when the pilot's ready to set up the links and make sure everything's good," said Newsom, a Miami, Fla., native deployed from Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D. "But when it's not communicating properly ... we call on our ENE, avionics, ground (communications) and we all coordinate together to isolate where the problem is coming from. It's up to everybody to ensure all the electrical components are working.

"It really takes the teamwork of ground (communications), the pilot, contractors, our avionics, our ENE shop, to really come together and actually piece together everything."

As the director of operations, Carl is also involved in the communication process.

"The Hawk AMU (officer in charge) comes over twice a day ... because there's always stuff we need to talk about," Carl said. "He's got things he needs to let me know and I've got things that I need to also tell him about. Communication is essential; if we don't have it then it's really hard to do our mission."

Though being part of a Global Hawk mission means constant communication and a high operations tempo, most find their job with the aircraft rewarding.

"I like that I can do my job from home; I don't have to deploy to fly my airplane," Carl said laughing, noting his current deployed status. He said the mission can be flown from home station through remote split operations, in which a crew pilots the aircraft during a four- to eight-hour shift.

"My family is a huge part of my life," he said. "If our Airmen can accomplish the mission while returning home each night, their family support and vital parenting role is not sacrificed. This also results in a smaller deployed footprint and fewer resources used at the (forward operating location)."

Spearmon is enjoying the deployment and seeing the aircraft's mission in action.

"Being out here, it's seeing that first-line support system that you're actually providing to people on the ground," he said. "That's a big aspect for me, being able to come out here and support the people that we need to."

Newsom likes the new technology.

"It's a sight to know that this plane's been flying for 20-plus hours and (it comes) back out of nowhere ... and knows exactly where to land (because of) all the stuff that everybody puts into it to make sure that the plane, even when it's taxiing, stays directly on the center line," he said. "It's a great fulfillment."

Carl said he's happy with the success of the team.

"The team is doing great," he said. "We work together, we talk to each other at least a dozen times a day. Lately we've had an extremely high success rate, so we're really happy. We're doing very well."