New drones a combat game-changer

Fort Carson’s newest weapon is also its most revolutionary, allowing ground-pounding units to strike targets hundreds of miles behind enemy lines and giving commanders an unprecedented view of enemy movements. All without risking lives. Meet the Gray Eagle, a hulking drone with a 56-foot wingspan that packs four Hellfire air-to-surface missiles and can stay aloft for a full 24-hours with its thrumming diesel power plant. Fort Carson has a dozen of the drones and they will soon be ready for war.

“We are reaching full-operational capability,” said Col. Scott Gallaway, who commands the post’s 4th Combat Aviation Brigade.

The Gray Eagle is similar to drones in use by U.S. intelligence agencies and the Air Force. But how they’re used by the Army will be different.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, armed drones have targeted insurgents and been flown by operators half a world away.

The Army envisions its drones as a way to give combat commanders the capability of striking deep, with drone operators sticking close to the battlefield. While the Air Force relies heavily on officers to fly drones, the Army will lean on its enlisted corps to do most of the flying.

Gallaway said the drones are a tool for a “near-peer competitive environment” — a battle against a well-armed and organized enemy.

The Army has gone to war with drones for nearly two decades. But those drones have been toys compared to the Gray Eagle.

The biggest was the Shadow — with 14-foot wings. It had a range of 68 miles, compared to the Gray Eagle’s more than 1,500-mile range. The small one was the Raven — with a 4-foot wingspan and a range of 6 miles.

Those drones gave commanders a limited view of the battlefield for short periods of time. They’re unarmed, but tactically useful when confronting nearby enemies.

The Gray Eagle, with sophisticated cameras and other intelligence sensors aboard, is strategic, Gallaway said.

“It gives us reconnaissance and security,” he said.

The drone can sneak behind the lines and gather intelligence on enemy movements, sharing the enemy’s precise location with computers mounted on American vehicles across the battlefield.

It can also be used to target enemy commanders, throwing their units into chaos with a precision strike.

“We see them as a combat multiplier,” Gallaway said.

The drones can also be used in new ways the Army is beginning to explore. Pilots aboard the aviation brigade’s AH-64E attack helicopters can view the drone feed in their cockpit and control the Gray Eagle in flight.

“Manned-unmanned teaming brings synergy to the battlefield where each platform, ground or air, uses its combat systems in the most efficient mode to supplement each team member’s capabilities in missions such as overwatch of troops in combat engagements, route reconnaissance, and convoy security,” Lt. Col. Fernando Guadalupe Jr. wrote in the Army’s Aviation Digest.

Translated: Using drones, the Army can overwhelm an enemy like the Martians in “War of The Worlds.”

Gallaway, an attack helicopter pilot, said he’s been watching the rise of drones in warfare for years.

It will change warfare. And America is in the lead.

“I love it,” he said.