Hancock in line for drones
by By Mark Weiner
Wednesday June 25, 2008, 5:00 AM

A federal spending bill approved Tuesday includes $10.4 million that paves the way for a squadron of unmanned aircraft to be based at the Air National Guard base in Mattydale.

The money will be used to build and expand facilities at Hancock Field to house at least 14 of the MQ-9 Reaper aerial drones that are due to arrive starting in 2010.

The funding, included in a House Appropriations bill by Rep. James Walsh, also helps secure the future of the base as the 174th Fighter Wing phases out its F-16 fighter jets by the end of next year.

By gaining the Reapers, the base will keep about 1,000 jobs and be able to continue growing at Hancock Field, Walsh said.

"It's very important to the future of the unit," Walsh, R-Onondaga, said Tuesday. "It's a brand new technology and our people will be early in its deployment. This is a part of the Air Force that will only grow in the future."

The federal money for the Reapers will ensure that Hancock Field is ready when the first four aircraft are assigned to the unit in spring 2010. Those aircraft will be sent overseas immediately, but remotely flown by flight operators based at Hancock Field.

"The pilots could be literally fighting a war in Iraq and at the end of their shift go home and be playing with their kids in Camillus," Walsh said.

The money approved Tuesday is a critical step toward cementing the base's future in Central New York, said Irwin Davis, president and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Development Association.

"This is a big win for the region," Davis said. "It's tremendously important. With an expenditure like this, it truly solidifies the role of the Air National Guard in the region."

Davis said the 174th Fighter Wing plays a big economic role in the region, spending about $108 million per year on salaries, supplies and services.

Col. Kevin Bradley, commander of the 174th Fighter Wing, said the money approved Tuesday will be used for two separate projects needed in order to house the Reaper drones at Hancock Field.

"That is very exciting news," Bradley said when told of the committee's approval. "That's critical funding in order to enable us to move forward with our mission."

The funding still must win final approval in Congress, and President Bush must sign it into law, but it is highly unusual for projects like this one to be removed from legislation once they are approved by the House Appropriations Committee.

The spending bill includes $5.4 million to modernize and expand three buildings that are part of the base's Air Support Operations Squadron.

An additional $5 million, already authorized in the Senate, will pay for converting and upgrading the Squadron Operations Facility from its mission to handle F-16s to the Reaper.

The building will house the Reaper air controllers, intelligence analysts, supervisors and the command and control and communications infrastructure, Bradley said.

The Air Force would like to fly the Reaper drones remotely from Hancock Field to Fort Drum, near Watertown, for practice bombing. In order to do so, the planes would have to cross civilian air space on their way to Fort Drum.

The Federal Aviation Administration has raised concerns about such flying, since the unmanned drones do not have the ability to detect and avoid other planes.

Walsh said he is confident the FAA will make an exception, and that technology will be developed to help address the safety concerns.

His office and federal agencies are working with Sensis Corp., a DeWitt company that makes air traffic control systems, on possible solutions.

With the latest appropriation, Walsh has obtained more than $100 million for Hancock Field's Air National Guard base since 1996.

The base survived a national round of military base closings in 2005. As part of its strategy for survival, the base successfully modernized over the past 10 years, with at least 16 new buildings and 21 major projects.

source: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/ ... rones.html