The 100th Flight in Afghan Airspace

The SUAV of the Hungarian Defence Forces (the Skylark I-LE manufactured by ELBIT Systems, Israel) has been in use on various operations in Afghanistan since the HUN PRT-8 deployed in Afghanistan. During the last four troop rotations the personnel of the IMINT cell had enough opportunity to gain experience of the characteristics of flights conducted under unusual terrain and weather conditions. The personnel of the cell celebrated the 100th successful flight of the SUAV in Afghanistan on November 9.

There has been a constantly growing need for real-time air reconnaissance missions during the last rotations. The videos provided by the Skylark are immediately available for the operations cell, which gives another opportunity to commanders who can take a vantage point on the area of operations and the movement of friendly and allied forces. Another important factor is that the video footages provide opportunity to detect enemy activities too.

In the initial phase of the Skylark’s service in Afghanistan, the operators familiarized themselves with the features of the terrain. They had to find answers to several questions such as which operations require its deployment and which do not, and which are impossible to conduct with the use of the SUAV.

The recent increase in the number of deployments is due to the successful integration of the Skylark and the capability into the system of the HUN PRT. The leaders of the PRT and the cells are making increasing use of the support provided by the reconnaissance SUAV.

It should be mentioned that there is a kind of observable “evolution" with respect to the supported operations too. The initial support role to meet general intelligence requirements and carry out route reconnaissance has been complemented with several other tasks. The operators currently deploy with the PRT on almost every operation.

 
 Photo: Lt.-Col. (Med.) Dr. István Toperczer