The success of the Shadow unmanned aircraft system was celebrated Thursday with accolades, photo ops and a cake cutting recognizing its major milestone in surpassing 1 million flight hours.
The event, held on the Sparkman Center's parade field, brought together the team of government and industry employees who have worked on the Shadow UAS program since its inception in 2002.
The words expressed by leadership at the ceremony repeatedly were very simply: "Thank you."
"Congratulate yourself," Col. Courtney Cote, the project manager for Unmanned Aircraft Systems under the Program Executive Office for Aviation, said.
"Pat yourself on the back because you have achieved a major milestone and delivered a capability that Soldiers can't get enough of."
Shadow employees might not hear words of thanks from Soldiers flying the system in theater, he said, but because of their success in contracting, managing and testing the UAS they have earned the trust of Soldiers and their commanders in providing a dependable system for improved intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and target acquisition.
"The work of this team is unseen, unrecognized and, sometimes, underappreciated," Cote said. "This achievement is both awe-inspiring and humbling."
Shadow UAS, a 500-pound, three-man operated UAS, surpassed 1 million flight hours on May 12 on a mission over Europe operated by Soldiers in support of the 4th Infantry Division. Just under 90 percent of those 1 million flight hours were flown on combat missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world. Shadow UAS has deployed 67 times in Southwest Asia alone, and has maintained more than 90 percent availability with more than 200,000 mission flights. Today, there are more than 100 Shadow systems in operation, and 2,300 Soldiers qualified to operate the system.
Development on Shadow UAS began in 1999 when Army leadership called for a single unmanned aircraft vehicle to fulfill all mission requirements. Its first flight hours were at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, during operational testing. It was then fielded at Fort Hood, Texas. The Shadow system entered operational test and evaluation in 2002 when it demonstrated its ability to provide reconnaissance and surveillance information to brigade commanders.
Also that year, Shadow UAS entered full rate production. It was soon used for the first time in theater by the 104th Military Intelligence Battalion in support of the 4th Infantry Division, flying 591 flights totaling more than 2,300 flights hours during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Eighteen months later in 2004, the Shadow UAS team had logged more than 10,000 hours. By June 2006, that number was more than 100,000 hours and in 2010 the system surpassed the 500,000 hour mark.
Along the way, improvements like the laser designator, extended wings for longer mission flight and a communication relay package kept Shadow UAS in high demand for improving the commander's understanding of the battlefield.
"One million flight hours represent 14 years of work by an amazing partnership of government and industry employees," said Lt. Col. Tory Burgess, product manager for Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems, which includes Shadow UAS.
"The Army has a rich history of UAS and Shadow is one of the first systems in combat operations. It's used by brigade combat teams, combat aviation brigades, Special Forces groups and the Marine Corps. We continue to make improvements every day to ensure we give the absolutely best capability to our Soldiers."
Burgess said there are numerous reports of how Shadow UAS has assisted commanders and Soldiers in theater. He mentioned a routine patrol where the Shadow recorded insurgents burying an improvised explosive device along a route regularly traveled by U.S. forces. The real-time video of the activity was provided to commanders and then the Shadow guided attack aircraft to the target for a successful strike.
"Shadow allows commanders to see what is happening on the ground so the unit can decide what needs to be done," Burgess said.
"What our employees do matters to Soldiers in the field and sometimes the thanks may be slow in coming. Soldiers are never going to call to say thanks for that contract package you put together that saved their lives. But we will continue to do our job to the best of our abilities so Soldiers and Marines can do their jobs to the best of their abilities."
Because of Shadow UAS success, Cote told Burgess and the employees gathered for the ceremony that the demand for the system is insatiable.
"Brace yourself," he said. "What you do is very important and because of what you do they need more of it."
During the celebration, three employees were welcomed into the One Million Hour Club in recognition of their length of service. They include Steven Capps, 30 years; Dana Osborne, 25 years; and Ed Gozdur, 24 years. The club's members along with Cote and Burgess then took turns cutting the ceremonial cakes for employees.
"This is a great milestone for the system. For it to have been this successful and to fly all those hours is really something and says a lot for the team here, said Ed Bradley, a member of the One Million Hour Club with 18 years experience with Shadow and 30 years with unmanned aircraft system.
"Pride comes to mind when thinking about it because we know it has saved a lot of Soldier lives," added fellow One Million Hour Club member Bruce Bialoskurski, who has 16 years of experience with Shadow UAS.
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