Battleship Missouri reunited with drone
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
The Predator unmanned aerial vehicle became a robot hero of the war in Afghanistan, tirelessly transmitting video of enemy positions to AC-130 gunships, and packing Hellfire missiles of its own.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
But as far back as the Gulf War, Pioneer "UAVs" were putting the fear of American technological might into the enemy — including Iraqi soldiers who surrendered to one of the unmanned planes when it droned overhead.
Retired Vice Adm. Robert Kihune, left, listens to an address by Capt. Lynden D. Whitmer regarding the donation of a Pioneer Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to the USS Missouri Memorial Association. The craft is on display on the ship's deck.
Thursday saw the past and future come together with the historic reunion of a Navy Pioneer aircraft with the ship that once launched it — the battleship Missouri.
The Navy and Pioneer UAV Inc. donated one of the aircraft to the USS Missouri Memorial Association, and the 14-foot craft is on display on the deck of the ship.
The battleship becomes the third recipient of a Pioneer. The others are the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C., and the Nauticus National Maritime Center in Norfolk, Va.
"Since UAVs first joined the U.S. military arsenal in the 1980s, they were quickly deployed to all four of the Navy's battleships — including the USS Missouri," said retired Vice Adm. Robert Kihune, Missouri Association president. "And like the Battleship Missouri, the Pioneer UAV proved to be a shining example of American achievement, ingenuity and might. We are proud to join a select few who are now designated caretakers of Pioneer UAVs."
Capt. Lynden D. Whitmer, program manager for the Navy Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Program Office, said the Pioneer "has paved the way for the Navy of the future.
"Our future clearly is unmanned, or uninhabited, aviation," Whitmer said at Thursday's dedication, adding that President Bush considers UAVs "among essential high-tech assets to win the war against terror."
UAVs now are being flown with wingspans wider than that of a 747.
The gray, 14-foot-long Pioneer, which has a 16.9-foot wingspan, and a two-stroke 26-horsepower engine that would power it at 92 mph, was the Navy's first UAV.
Remotely controlled, and with visual reconnaissance, surveillance, targeting and bomb damage assessment capabilities, the Pioneer was introduced in 1986.
Better known as the scene of the Japanese surrender ending World War II on Sept. 2, 1945, Missouri in 1991 sailed through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Persian Gulf to take part in Desert Storm after Iraq invaded Kuwait.
On board was a Pioneer and operating detachment.
Missouri launched 28 Tomahawk cruise missiles, and trained its 16-inch guns on Khafji, firing 112 rounds.
It was the first time since March 25, 1953, in Korea, that the Mighty Mo's big guns were fired in combat.
It was also the first use of a UAV to spot where the 2,000-pound shells were falling.
The Pioneer was launched off a rail with rocket assist, and was guided back into a net.
Missouri officials say individuals or groups of Iraqis attempted to signal all the Pioneers. But the most celebrated case came when Missouri rained shells on the defenses of Faylaka Island near Kuwait City, and Iraqi soldiers used handkerchiefs, undershirts and bedsheets to surrender to a Pioneer sent aloft from the battleship USS Wisconsin.
The story goes that a sailor called the Wisconsin's commanding officer and said, "Sir, they want to surrender, what should I do with them?"
"It didn't take the Iraqi soldiers long to know that if you ever heard the high-pitched whine of this snowmobile two-stroke engine, they knew the 16-inch gun shells were shortly there behind," Whitmer said. "They learned quickly."
Whitmer said the Pioneers have logged more than 23,000 flight hours.
Updated Pioneers remain in use. In 1999, 15 additional Pioneers were bought by the Navy for $750,000 apiece.
The Navy Pioneers did not see service in Afghanistan, but Whitmer said there are two Navy and two Marine units that can be deployed.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
