FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. – Fort Indiantown Gap is taking on a leading role in the Army’s expanding drone mission as the primary training site for new unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, selected through the Department of War’s first Drone Gauntlet competition.
The installation’s UAS Training and Innovation Facility will receive eight selected drone systems, and Soldiers there will receive training from the systems’ manufacturers. The Training and Innovation Facility will adapt training for the Army and train Soldiers from active- and reserve-component units slated to receive those systems.
Being chosen as the primary training site was a “massive” win for the Pennsylvania National Guard, said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Nathan Shea, the Training and Innovation Facility officer-in-charge.
“It’s a huge deal, especially when you’re talking about all of COMPO 1 [active component],” Shea said. “It’s a huge, huge honor for Pennsylvania to get this, and it just goes to show we’re kind of the tip of the spear and leading from the front not only for COMPO 2 [reserve component], but we’re right up there with COMPO 1.”
The first iteration of train-the-trainer training began June 1, with representatives from California-based Neros Technologies training Soldiers to use the company’s Archer drone at the Training and Innovation Facility. The five-day course includes classroom instruction and maintenance as well as actual flying.
The Archer is an 8-inch, first-person-view, purpose-built attritable system, or one-way attack drone, designed to carry explosives and strike a target with the goal of destroying it.
“The main purpose of this drone is to carry payloads, mainly munitions payloads, to actually engage targets with them,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Adam Rocker, the Training and Innovation Facility’s standardization instructor.
Most of the Soldiers receiving the training had previous experience flying first-person view, or FPV, drones, but for some, it was their first experience with a small FPV drone, Rocker said.
“The training we’re getting from the Neros team is great training,” Rocker said. “They’re really breaking things down and giving us a good foundation to move forward to train the [active component] personnel who are going to be coming to us.”
Pilots have the option to fly the Archer with goggles that provide an immersive experience or with a “pilot box” featuring a large computer screen, said Dwight Church, a field instructor with Neros Technologies.
“In current situations, the pilot might not be able to utilize the goggles, depending on where they’re operating, so it gives the opportunity for the pilot to utilize the screen,” Church said. “Some might find it disorienting to wear the goggles off the get-go, so they’ll end up using the pilot box to navigate and slowly progress to the goggles.”
The Archer can carry up to a 4.1-pound payload and has a range of about 20 kilometers with it, Church said.
“This is a long-range precision-flight drone,” Church said. “So, we’re teaching them to conserve battery, reduce their audio signature, not just the flight technique side but also the tactical employment of how to be a successful drone pilot.”
Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Quigley of the 56th Mobile Brigade Combat Team was among the Soldiers receiving the training. It was the first time Quigley had flown an FPV drone, having spent his entire military career in maintenance before recently transitioning to drone operations.
“It’s been great so far,” Quigley said of the training. “The instructors challenge you, and they push you. They definitely don’t take it easy, but they start you at the simplest level, going in straight lines.”
The Archer is the first of eight UAS systems selected through the “Drone Gauntlet” competition that the Training and Innovation Facility Soldiers will receive training on before they provide training to other Soldiers, Shea said.
“Once we receive that vendor training, I will reach out to all of these different unit, and we’ll get that on the schedule,” Shea said.
In addition to the actual training, meeting and working with other drone operators also will be beneficial, Shea said.
“The more people in this space that we can bring together and grow contacts through this process, it’s a huge deal and it really helps people network,” Shea said.