FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. -- Soldiers assigned to D Company, 41st Engineer Battalion "Dark Knights," 2nd Brigade Combat Team, finished their unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) reconnaissance training scheduled from Feb. 14 through March 12 at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.
During the winter months on Fort Drum, UAV operators have a hard time getting flight hours due to the vast weather changes. But members of one platoon had a chance to travel south and accumulate required flight hours in a warmer environment.
The Dark Knights headed to the RQ-7 Shadow's main testing ground to operate their equipment in a vast landscape that is also a safe and controlled area.
"We had an opportunity to get our platoon flight hours during the winter months," said 1st Lt. Brian Zimmerman, tactical unmanned aircraft systems platoon leader. "It's very challenging to get flight hours at Fort Drum due to ice and dense cloud deck (a bank of clouds of a particular type forming a layer at a certain altitude) during the winter months."
Zimmerman said that going to Fort Huachuca allowed his operators to hone their skills, log needed flight hours, and stay compliant with the 440 hours of flight time needed to operate the UAV.
At the testing grounds, pilots had a chance to work side by side with Department of Defense trainers to learn up-to-date tactics used on today's battlefield. Since there were no units conducting ground training at this time, trainers found the next best thing.
With free-range cattle moving through training sites, Soldiers were allowed to track the animals' movements by using the UAV's camera system during day and night operations, send reports to higher command on movement patterns, and report where they were heading.
During their training, crew members got a glimpse of the new Shadow system they will receive later this year on Fort Drum. The upgrades include a longer flight time and stronger optics to improve surveillance during operations.
This new equipment will allow pilots a chance to give better battlefield assessments to leadership and ground troops during training events and future operations.
The Dark Knights were able to log in more than 130 flight hours to help meet the semi-annual requirements to safely operate the UAV. For Zimmerman, this was not all about flight hours, but building a stronger team.
"The training in Arizona allowed us to be more efficient and able to launch the drones faster and operate with less down time," Zimmerman said.
As the Dark Knights finished their training, one Soldier saw the benefit his platoon had gained.
"This was a great opportunity for our Soldiers to come together and just focus on our training," said Sgt. Kevin Hoffman, unmanned aircraft system operator. "This training gave us a distraction-free time that allowed everyone a chance to hone their skills."
The RQ-7 Shadow is an American UAV used by the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, Australian army and Swedish army for reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition and battle damage assessment.
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