Army COL Tim Baxter is project manager for the Army’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program Office. He
spoke to Defense Systems Editor-in-Chief Barry Rosenberg about
deployment of a company of Gray Eagle unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to
Afghanistan, the use of universal systems and interoperability, and the
weaponization of the Shadow UAV. Also participating in the interview
was Deputy Project Manager Rich Kretzschmar, who was assigned to the
position just a few days before the interview.
DS: What’s at the top of your to-do list?
Baxter: I will give you my top
five UAS priorities, and you will see how they work together. The
number-one priority here is supporting overseas contingency operations.
Our focus every day is to better support the folks that are on the
ground in Afghanistan. And so we have got a number of systems deployed
forward with our Shadows, our Hunters, a couple different variants of
our Gray Eagles, and then our smaller Pumas and Ravens. And there is an
associated [logistics and support] tail associated with that.
We have got a number of other activities
going on in the background that are supporting our operations in
Afghanistan. We had a number of additional requirements that have hit
the office over the last 12 to 18 months in the area of small UAS. We
have a couple of Joint Urgent Operational Needs Statement (JUONS) for
Pumas primarily supporting road clearance. We have fully fielded one of
those JUONS, and are in the process of filling the second one. Along
with that we also stood up a training program at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.,
that helps us to train the route clearance operators before they head
downrange.
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