Coalition Force Reaper Unit Deploys to Joint Base Bal

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq --- A coalition force comprising experts from the U.S. Air Force and Royal Air Force deployed here recently to sustain operations for the world's most lethal unmanned aircraft system.>> An MQ-9 Reaper aircraft maintenance unit, attached to the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance and Attack Squadron, melds airframe maintenance expertise with satellite communications system technical capability and brings American and British Airmen together to accomplish the Reaper's persistent strike mission, said Capt. Antonio Camacho, the Reaper AMU officer in charge.>> "It's a very unique program," said Captain Camacho, whose unit is deployed from the 432nd Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Creech Air Force Base, Nev. "Some people see our system as remote control, but it's not.">> The Reaper AMU took over maintaining the UAS from General Atomics, which produces the Reaper for the U.S. Air Force and Royal Air Force. Battlespace Flight Services maintains MQ-1 Predators stationed at Joint Base Balad.>> Reaper and Predator systems consist of four main components: the aircraft, the satellite uplink, the local ground control station and the remote ground control station at Creech AFB, said Royal Air Force Chief Technician Gary Smith, NCO in charge of the Reaper AMU.>> "All that is one system, and all of the system has to work to enable the aircraft to take off," said RAF Chief Technician Smith, a native of Lincoln, England, who is deployed from Creech. "Unlike an F-16 (Fighting Falcon) AMU, which will look after just the aircraft, we look after the whole system. We become system managers rather than aircraft managers: it's a worldwide system, and all of those pieces have to work.