CREECH AIR FORCE BASE, Nevada | In a top-secret facility only 40 minutes from the hustle and bustle of the Las Vegas strip, two Air Force pilots prepared for takeoff on a mission to support troops in combat.
Lt. Col. Christopher Gough and Staff Sgt. Jonah Graw, with the 42nd Attack Squadron, were “flying” a plane halfway around the world, one of the military’s most precious, secret and controversial assets: a bomber called the MQ-9 Unmanned Aerial System, otherwise known as the Reaper.
Grim Reaper is what it is sometimes called. The medium- to high-altitude aircraft can carry up to 14 Hellfire missiles — seven times more than its predecessor, the Predator. The Reaper’s main mission is to “hunt and kill,” but the pilots operate the craft from the safety of this air base in Indian Springs, Nev.
“In a fighter, you can only see what you see and you can only give what you can give,” said Col. Gough, a former F-16 pilot and commander of the squadron. He said the Air Force personnel involved in flying the Reaper and Predator provide better intelligence without risking the casualties of physical combat.
“Inside this aircraft, you can put time on hold,” Col. Gough said. He counts on his crew of analysts, ground commanders and other experts to help guide him to hot spots in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Their mission is to protect troops in harm’s way and search for and destroy adversaries. The experience, however, can seem curiously detached.
On a recent Nevada afternoon, Col. Gough and Sgt. Graw, an expert in surveillance intelligence, “flew” over numerous Afghan villages and farmlands unbeknownst to the Afghans sleeping below. Not even the goats in the fields, which were clearly visible on streaming video, stirred as the drone flew silently above the Afghan night.
Air Force officials say that the Predator and Reaper are just the first in a revolution in cyber and warfare technology that will take pilots out of the skies and put them behind computers and joysticks.
Three star Lt. Gen. Michael W. Peterson, chief of warfighting integration and chief information officer for the Air Force, said in a recent interview that the use of unmanned aircraft in Afghanistan has been unprecedented and that projects to enhance the planes’ capabilities are under way.
“We believe we’ll have a computer with as much computing power as a human no later than 2012,” Gen. Peterson said in reference to meetings he had with IBM and other computer technology firms. “We want the aircraft to initially think through the problem and offer the pilot a couple of solutions to choose from.”
Although the technology is still being developed, he said he hopes that one day advanced aircraft will be able to “plan ahead” and evaluate changes in the mission if required.
Currently, there are 31 MQ-1 Predators and three MQ-9 Reapers flying combat air patrols, said Col. Christopher R. Chambliss, commander of the 432nd Wing and 432nd Air Expeditionary Wing, at Creech.
He said that more combat air patrols are needed and that there are not enough to meet the demands of commanders in the field.
Col. Chambliss said the Air Force is planning on adding 19 remotely piloted combat air patrols, for a total of 50 by 2011.
The system allows pilots to hit targets that they wouldn’t be able to “hit if they were just a single person in a single airplane,” he said. It also allows pilots to wait “for the right moment to make sure that we’re going to alleviate any chances for collateral damage or casualties.”
Col. Chambliss said the Defense Department is working on making the Reaper and Predator self-sufficient, giving them capabilities to repair themselves if they are shot down or otherwise disabled.
The aircraft’s capability to gather intelligence is unmatched, added Col. Gough, who said that he is thrilled to be a part of the new command. He said he doesn’t really miss actually flying an F-16 because the future will depend on the new unmanned vehicles.
“We’re going to be able to save a lot of lives this way and keep casualties down,” he said. “There is no doubt we’re in a new world.”
Of course, those on the ground when the unmanned craft strike tend to feel differently. Both the Afghan and Pakistani governments complain that the U.S. drones kill innocent civilians as well as al Qaeda and Taliban militants.
The U.S. pilots say they are aware of these concerns and do everything possible to prevent the death of civilians.
“We never want to see innocent people lose their lives,” Col. Gough said. “This technology has saved more lives than can be imagined and it gives us the opportunity to target our enemy on our own terms.”
Monitoring the Predators
At a secret location in the Persian Gulf, troops with the U.S. Central Command’s Combined Air and Space Operations Center (CAOC) watch as the predators being flown by pilots in the U.S. scour Iraq and Afghanistan for insurgents. The commanders and intelligence analysts at the operations center are in direct contact with ground commanders in the war zones. The Washington Times also spent time at CAOC in an effort to gain a better understanding of U.S. tactics against a growing insurgency in Afghanistan.
Air Force officials asked that the location of the CAOC facility not be disclosed for security reasons.
On a visit last summer, the heat outside was unbearable.
The site — invisible from the sky — was camouflaged with mesh netting to blend into the terrain. Inside several high-ceilinged buildings, wide-screen monitors, larger than those in a movie theater, projected live images from both Predator and Reaper feeds of locations in Iraq and Afghanistan where insurgents were believed to be operating.
The drones, which are dispatched from various locations in the region, cover more than 4,000 miles of terrain and send live feeds to command central from the war zone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Groups of analysts sifted through intelligence data in one of the dimly lit buildings, trying to gain information on insurgents and provide ground troops with backup for coordinated strikes. Their most important mission: aiding troops under fire.
Lt. Col. Walt Manwill, chief of combat operations in the CAOC, said the drones provide a “persistent stare” on U.S. adversaries but that on 90 percent of the missions flown, no bombs are dropped.
“We are here to save our troops first and foremost,” Lt. Col. Manwill said. “We’re also constantly searching for insurgents, small groups out of place or enemy movement to aid commanders on the ground and provide intelligence.” The aircraft can reach troops in Iraq, within 10 minutes, while in Afghanistan it takes 12 minutes or less, he said.
Finding explosives
Back at Creech Air Force Base, pilots were gathering flight coordinates and intelligence from ground commanders in southern Afghanistan, who thought insurgents were operating near a desolate highway. Heat signatures along the highway discovered by the Reaper were reported back to ground commanders as a possible improvised explosive device hidden beneath the cold soil.
Other intelligence experts, in a back room separated from the pilot’s stationary cockpit, were watching the same video feeds and accessing the information along with their counterparts at the CAOC.
The airmen at both locations pay the most attention to U.S. and allied forces under attack and evidence leading to insurgent activity in the regions.
Older video feeds declassified for The Times displayed the power of the unmanned vehicles and its intelligence gathering capabilities.
A man loading a vehicle in Iraq could be seen closely enough to distinguish his facial features. On another screen, cars were seen speeding up and down a two-lane highway. On yet another screen, the view was of a gathering of alleged insurgents on farmland somewhere in Afghanistan.
The men could be seen walking to and from a large building.
U.S. commanders said they had been gathering intelligence on the group for weeks. The grainy black-and-white video showed the power of the Reaper’s Hellfire missiles. In an instant, the men on the ground and the building disappeared in an explosion of brilliant white light.
The Coffin
In a hanger at Creech Air Force Base, a Reaper and several Predators, which had spent roughly 180 days in the combat zone, waited to be repaired before being sent back to war.
They made their journey in what Air Force officials dub “the coffin,” a long storage container that houses the craft being moved in and out of the war zone for repairs and maintenance.
Nearly two-thirds of the aircraft are stationary at any given time so that they can be maintained, Col. Chambliss said.
The Reaper, which was waiting to be inspected, dwarfed the Predators on the other side of the hanger.
It had a painted skull and crossbones on its tail end and along its front nose, the painted images of 26 missiles, reflecting the number of times it had been used to kill in combat.
At the CAOC and at Creech, the decision to fire the missiles is not made lightly.
Most of the pilots flying the unmanned aircraft have served in combat zones in the past, Gen. Peterson said.
Col. Gough said that “everyone who serves in this mission regardless if we’re in Nevada or overseas understands the implications” and said he does not feel distant from the actual combat or the deaths that result from the use of the aircraft.
“In fact, it makes you even more cautious,” he said.
Col. Bill Carranza, the chief JAG officer within the CAOC, said one of his roles is to monitor the legality of any strike that might occur.
Col. Carranza is an expert on the Law of Armed Conflict — international rules that prohibit targeting noncombatants and seek to reduce civilian casualties.
“My job is make certain that we’ve done everything we can before an air strike to ensure that civilians, noncombatants are safe,” he said.
However, in a counterinsurgency it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between friend and foe. The Defense Department has had a difficult time over the past year trying to assuage the anger of Afghan officials over civilian casualties as the result of strikes.
Afghan officials in Kabul expressed that anger last month, when U.S. craft reportedly bombed a wedding party, killing many women and children.
Prince Abdul Ali Seraj, a member of the country’s former royal family and president of the National Coalition for Dialogue With Tribes of Afghanistan, told The Times in Kabul in July that reducing civilian casualties is essential to winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people and that these advanced aircraft can’t distinguish between the enemy and innocent.
“The most important thing is to stop killing innocent civilians on these missions,” he said. “The international community cannot afford to make a mistake when it comes to innocent lives lost — the people will slowly turn against the U.S. efforts.”
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