The U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force and Australian Defence Force operated as a combined task force during a exercise \u201cLoobeye\u201d in Northern Territory, Australia, throughout August.<\/p>\n
The scenario of the drils focused on a small naval expeditionary force\u2019s ability to rapidly deploy, integrate with foreign partners, coordinate airstrikes and call for close air support on targets within contested environments. The latter were conducted by U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancers with the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron and B-2 Spirit stealth bombers with the 393rd Bomb Squadron deployed to the Indo-Pacific region as part of Pacific Air Force\u2019s Bomber Task Force.<\/p>\n
Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 3, MRF-D\u2019s Air Combat Element, based at Marine Corps Base Hawaii utilized the RQ-21A Blackjack drone to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance of one target, while a simultaneous strike was conducted with Australian Army forward air controllers airborne in Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters.\u00a0https:\/\/twitter.com\/i\/status\/1301395749989539840<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n RQ-21A Blackjack is the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps\u2019 Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System designed and manufactured by Insitu Inc., a wholly owne subsidiary of Boeing. According to the Boeing datasheet, the RQ-21A Blackjack, is a Group 3 UAV: an unmanned aerial vehicle whose weight is below 1,320 lb (around 600 kg), speed is below 250 knots and normal operating altitude is below 18,000ft.<\/p>\n It features:<\/p>\n Six payload spaces that can carry up to 39 lbs (17 kg)<\/p>\n Endurance of 16+ hours per day (depending on configuration)<\/p>\n Electro-optic\/infrared (EO\/IR) payloads support real-time monitoring to provide indications and threat warnings<\/p>\n Plug-and-play payloads enable multi-intelligence capability to support a broad range of operations<\/p>\n Line of sight range of 55 nautical miles (102 km)<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we provided was target acquisition, forward, in austere environment that allowed the MAGTF Commander to sign off on the strikes, confirm the targets with our FMV (Full Motion Video),\u201d said U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Harrison Zhu, an unmanned aerial system commander with Aviation Combat Element, Marine Rotational Force \u2013 Darwin, in an video interview released by the USMC. \u201cSo we went out, found the target, sent the video feedback back to the command element for them to identify the target, and approve the strikes. We also acted as a command and control node, so we had a communication with the command element, and we are ready to relay execution checks, and relay information to the USAF bombers.\u201d<\/p>\n