MQ-9 Reaper Clears First Mission Using Dirt Landing Zone

The U.S. MQ-9 Reaper completed its first landing on a remote dirt strip in West Texas.

The landing was conducted on Juune 15 by members from the 2nd Special Operations Squadron, 727th Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and 311th Special Operations Intelligence Squadron teamed up with Airmen from the 26th Special Tactics Squadron out of Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico.

“This team of aircrew, maintainers and special tactics Airmen have proven the Reaper can operate anywhere in the world and is no longer beholden to the ‘leash’ of perfectly paved runways or line-of-sight antennas traditionally used to takeoff and land the aircraft,” said Lt. Col. Brian Flanigan, 2nd SOS director of operations.

Historically, the MQ-9 has taken off and landed via line-of-sight of antennas, with aircrew members manually flying the aircraft. Now, the MQ-9 can literally takeoff and land from anywhere in the world.

The team is not only using the MQ-9 satellite and recovery (SLR) capability to access short, narrow and unprepared places, but also using it in creative ways to offer ‘off the menu’ options not traditionally provided by RPAs. This was demonstrated by their use of a travel pod attached to the aircraft to execute a critical resupply of the 26th STS on the dirt landing zone.

"We call it ‘Reaper Express,’ which is essentially just using a travel pod to develop an operational concept of delivering critical items to austere locations using the MQ-9,” Flanigan said. “It may not be able to carry much, but what it can hold, might be the difference between getting that critical aircraft part to an isolated airfield or bringing in a blood supply for casualties sustained during a base attack.”

While the MQ-9 has no demand shortage with its traditional role in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance or its ability to quickly land and execute an engine running offload could be a secondary or tertiary mission.

“This provides options compared to waiting multiple weeks until intra-theater airlift can support,” Flanigan said. “What we’re also finding through the series of exercises we’ve executed, is that the ‘fight tomorrow’ capabilities we’ve been demonstrating is rapidly becoming a ‘fight tonight’ capability the joint force is wanting now.”

The collective contributions of active duty and Reserve members working together provided a glimpse of what is possible as transformation continues throughout the RPA enterprise.

“We are continuing to expand MQ-9 Reaper capabilities,” said Maj. Dan Carlson, 2nd SOS MQ-9 chief pilot. “The unique ability to maneuver the MQ-9 to operate anytime, anyplace is a relatively new capability and one that is transforming how we prepare for tomorrow’s fight as well as today’s.”

The certification exercise also provided a venue for intelligence analysts to contribute and further enhance the STS mission regardless of where they operate.

“We are innovating ways to provide geospatial intelligence to downrange forces,” said Capt. Courtney Cook, 311th Special Operations Intelligence Squadron assistant director of operations. “The opportunity to support this was huge for our organization.”