Remotely Piloted Aircraft Wing likely headed to Shaw AFB

VALDOSTA, Ga. — Moody Air Force Base has been passed over by the Air Force for a mission involving unmanned aircraft, according to an Air Force press release.

The Air Force has decided Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina is the “preferred location” for  mission control and launch and recovery units in support of the new MQ-9 Reaper Remotely Piloted Aircraft Wing.

The other four bases — Moody, Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona, Mountain Home AFB in Idaho and Offutt AFB in Nebraska — are being considered as “reasonable alternatives” and will be considered as part of the environmental impact analysis process, the press release said.

“Shaw AFB was selected because it was the best option to help us diversify assignment opportunities for personnel within the MQ-9 enterprise, provide increased opportunities for leadership from within the community, and provide flexibility to enhance integration with other organizations and capabilities,” said Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James.

In 2016, officials said the Reaper mission could have brought more than 400 jobs to Lowndes County.

The Air Force is also considering another location to host an MQ-9 wing that includes up to 24 MQ-9s, launch and recovery elements, a mission-control element, a maintenance group and support personnel, the press release said.

The MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned armed aircraft, commonly called a drone, designed to operate at medium altitudes, often for extended periods of time. Weighing less than 4,000 pounds, the Reaper can be disassembled and loaded into a single container for worldwide deployment.

The Air Force characterizes the Reaper as a multi-mission system, with uses in intelligence gathering as well as its primary job, unmanned attacks. It has a cruising speed around 230 miles per hour with a range of 1,150 miles, the Air Force says.

Its armament can include Hellfire missiles, Paveway II laser-guided bombs and the GBU-38 kit which upgrades regular bombs to “smart” bomb levels, according to an Air Force fact sheet.

Reapers are now operated out of Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.