SMYRNA, Tenn. (WTVF) — For years, a relatively unknown group of airmen from the Tennessee Air National Guard's 118th Wing has had a uniquely secretive mission: to fly military aircraft overseas, conducting surveillance and taking out terrorist targets.
But here's the catch: they pilot it all from inside a secret room in the guard's base in Nashville.
The group flies a fleet of MQ-9s, remotely piloted military aircraft without anyone in the cockpit on the actual plane.
The guard shuns the term "drones" to describe the aircraft, because they say it discounts the hearts and minds behind the controls in Nashville, while piloting the planes an ocean away.
Previously, those remotely-controlled planes could only take off from a limited number of airfields, with a large number of specialized crews and equipment required on the ground. Now, the guard is debuting new satellite technology that requires fewer ground crews and less equipment to help the planes take off and land.
The Tennessee Air National Guard says that means the unmanned aircraft will be able to take off and land at a much wider range of airfields, opening the doors for the aircraft to help Tennessee first responders during disaster situations, and allowing Tennessee-based remote pilots to more directly provide assistance to their neighbors.
The guard says remotely-piloted military planes have already been used domestically to monitor the spread of wildfires in California, but now with the aircraft able to land at closer airfields, it can help monitor damage from floods, tornadoes and wildfires in Tennessee, helping direct first responders to the right places more quickly.
"The technology has advanced now that actually for the first time — this is historic, this is a big deal for us," said Col. Ted Geasley with the Tennessee Air National Guard.
The aircraft will be in town for Smyrna's Great Tennessee Airshow and will stay for several weeks, conducting training missions at Fort Campbell and other locations.
