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USMC 2025 MCAS Yuma Airshow
- Thread starter AircraftGeek513
- Start date
There are only a handful of MQ-9s in CONUS, and it's next to impossible to pull one away from training sorties to put it on the ramp as a static display. It's always kind of cool to see one in person. There are many jokes that go along with it, but the first reaction the general masses have to seeing one in person is, "wow, I didn't realize how big it is."
Interesting that VMU-1 put hellfire rails on it as the USMC doesn't have kinetic strike as a primary MET for MQ-9s. Airshow rules should apply- make it look cool by loading up the hard points with inerts. They should take a lesson from @HuggyU2 's A-37.
It's also strange to me that we have crews who have a few thousand hours in the GCS flying them and yet they have never seen one in person- or have only seen one once while at IQT/the FRS. Just the way of the world.
Interesting that VMU-1 put hellfire rails on it as the USMC doesn't have kinetic strike as a primary MET for MQ-9s. Airshow rules should apply- make it look cool by loading up the hard points with inerts. They should take a lesson from @HuggyU2 's A-37.
It's also strange to me that we have crews who have a few thousand hours in the GCS flying them and yet they have never seen one in person- or have only seen one once while at IQT/the FRS. Just the way of the world.
AircraftGeek513
Member
Crazy never actually seeing what you are flying. I get that drones and the ground station are often times separated but come on
Not often times, for group 5, it's all the time.
My squadron has been "deployed" with a single combat line since 2014. If we want a day off we have to coordinate another unit to surge a second line. So we generally only get a few of those a year.
AircraftGeek513
Member
Even in training?
Uuntil recently, mission control element (MCE) and launch/recovery element (LRE) squadrons were two completely separate entities.
It was considered a waste of time and money to train someone to do something they were never going to in the fleet. MCE squadrons employed the airplane in combat missions so they focus on weapons employment and ISR mission sets. LRE squadrons maintained the airplanes, as well as launched and landed them. So LRE squadrons focused on that stuff. Imagine FCF squadrons for other types of airplanes and that is kind of what they primarily did- folks who had the experience to hand fly, land with emergencies, do Mx test and calibrations, etc... For a long time one had to have a bunch of MCE hours to go to an LRE squadron. That has since changed.
As Satellite Launch and Recovery (SLR) ops have become standard, the LRE squadrons are going away and MCE squadrons are doing everything.
AircraftGeek513
Member
Interesting.