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Guard Stryker Brigade to deploy with FCS UAVs

The Army’s first National Guard Stryker Brigade will deploy to Iraq with the service’s newest unmanned aerial vehicles.

Army officials from the Future Combat Systems program announced Tuesday that the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team will begin training in December with 15 FCS-developed, gasoline-powered Micro Air Vehicles for their upcoming deployment to Iraq in January.

“This fielding is unique as the 56th Stryker Brigade represents the first National Guard Unit to use FCS developed unmanned air vehicles,” Maj. Gregg Dellert, FCS assistant product manager for Micro Air Vehicle and Class I Block Zero unmanned air vehicles, said in a press statement.

The Army fielded 30 of the vertical-launched gMAVs to the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division in Iraq this summer in response to a joint operational needs statement from the combat zone calling for more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets.

“The 2-25th Stryker Brigade has been using the gMAV for some time now, but we expect to gain new insight from the fresh user perspective the Guard unit will bring,” Dellert said.

The gMAV is man-portable and provides units with a hover and stare capability that doesn’t yet exist in Army and Air Force UAV inventories. It’s equipped with sensors that can take still and video imagery that leaders can use for surveillance operations.

The gMAV, which is in testing with the Army’s Evaluation Task Force at Fort Bliss, Texas, is a precursor technology to the FCS program’s Class I unmanned air vehicle that will be fielded to infantry brigade combat teams starting in 2011.

“In terms of both the future development of the gMAV and the FCS Class I UAV, having a fresh set of eyes will prove very useful,” Dellert said. “These National Guard soldiers will help our FCS developers make sure that future versions of these UAVs will have all capabilities required for robust mission sets.”