SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Two-hundred New York Air National Guard members with 14 fighter aircraft from the 174th Fighter Wing finished two missions at once here Aug. 5 after returning from a two month's deployment in Balad, Iraq, and completing their final rotation as "fighter" Airmen.
"We are so proud of our returning deployers," said Col. Kevin W. Bradley, wing commander. "Our Citizen-Airmen once again proved that they were well prepared for the fight."
It was the wing's eighth, and last, F-16 Fighting Falcon deployment. Bradley said his Guardmembers now will train for a new weapons system: the MQ-9 Reaper.
"We now turn our attention to preparing for the future," said Bradley, "... and begin preparations for the MQ-9 conversion.
It was announced in May 2005 that the wing's Guardmembers would climb out of their F-16 cockpits to remotely pilot the MQ-9. The MQ-9 is the armed cousin to the MQ-1 Predator that is currently serving as a persistent hunter-killer drone from skies of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Air Force calls the MQ-9 a deployable "system" of several air vehicles, a ground control station, communication equipment/links, spares and a mix of military and contractor personnel.
The entire system can be boxed up and airlifted to anywhere in the world. Its crew includes a pilot and a sensor operator, who operate the aircraft from a remotely located ground control station.
The California Air Guard's 163rd Reconnaissance Wing was the first Guard unit to operate a MQ weapons system, as it transitioned to the MQ-1 Predator from the KC-135 Stratotanker in 2006.
The Air Force's only operating MQ-9 squadron, the 42d Attack Squadron, is an active-duty unit at Creech Air Force Base, Nev.
The 174th will transition to the MQ-9 this fall to be the Air Guard's first MQ-9 attack squadron. Its Guardmembers will begin training on the systems in 2010 to prepare for their own systems in 2011. The 174th has been a fighter wing since 1947, and it was the New York Air Guard's first flying unit.