Global Hawk flies first deployment from Beale Published July 26, 2007 By 2nd Lt. Ashley Peltier 9th RW Public Affairs BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (ACCNS) -- The 9th Reconnaissance Wing's RQ-4 Global Hawk program passed a significant milestone by completing the first operational Global Hawk deployment from Beale, touching down at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, this week. "This is the first time in United States Air Force history that we've deployed the Global Hawk aircraft, personnel and support equipment directly from Beale in support of a combatant commander tasking," said Lt. Col. Chad Clifton, 9th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron commander. Previous Global Hawk deployments were flown out of Edwards AFB with a combined effort from both Edwards and Beale pilots. The flight also marks the first Global Hawk landing at Andersen AFB, where the Global Hawk is scheduled to be stationed permanently starting in 2009. The deployment symbolically represents the first step in stabilizing unmanned aircraft in national and international air space, according to base officials. While locally, Global Hawk training flights continue at Beale, this operational mission required Beale personnel to set up the launch and recovery element, and all additional infrastructures to receive the aircraft at Andersen. "We have stabilized our training operations at Beale and are now stepping out to show that we can safely self-deploy the Global Hawk around the world," said Lt. Col. J. Scott Winstead, 12th Reconnaissance Squadron commander. To make the long trip and land safely, many obstacles had to be overcome and tireless efforts by maintenance and operations personnel were necessary to accomplish the feat. "The primary challenge from the operations side was software and weather," Colonel Winstead said. "We had to delay the initial deployment a week to allow a typhoon to move through the Guam area, and the software used to fly the Global Hawk is new and requires different training for the pilots." To overcome these obstacles, a massive training effort was launched by both the Beale's 12th and 18th Reconnaissance Squadrons, which greatly contributed to the success of the deployment. With the operations side addressed, maintenance professionals were facing their own equally demanding obstacles. Maintenance crews at Beale had to focus on efficient trouble-shooting and problem correction to successfully launch the aircraft in a 45-minute window. "We were dealing with so many firsts," said Maj. Alan Rabb, 18th Reconnaissance Squadron chief of current operations and en-route team commander. "Our first hurdle was to get here (Andersen) and get set up, which alone, proved to be a bit of a challenge." Once they arrived at Andersen, the en-route team of Beale maintainers displayed a great feat of teamwork by completely setting up the LRE, initiating satellite connectivity, performing link checks and trouble-shooting possible risks; all necessary to receive the Global Hawk. "Maintenance leadership is extremely proud of every maintainer whose hard work and teamwork really made this operational mission happen," said Colonel Clifton. "Teamwork is truly the backbone of Global Hawk operations," Major Rabb agreed. This mission demonstrated the tremendous range and capabilities the Global Hawk brings to the fight. "This deployment really shows the incredible global reach of the aircraft as the 16-hour leg from Beale to Guam was only slightly over half of the 30-hour capability," Colonel Winstead said. "The lessons learned here are critical to the future deployment capability of the Global Hawk," said Col. Jon Engle, 9th Operations Group commander. "This mission was truly a 'one team, one fight' effort. I am proud of both the operations and maintenance groups and all of Team Beale who contributed to the success of this mission."