Air Force Drones On

Review by Bill Doughty

Air Force Lt. Col. T. Mark McCurley does his best to downplay the Navy's support, development and use of unmanned aircraft – remotely piloted aircraft – in his personal wartime memoir "Hunter Killer: Inside America's Unmanned Air War" (Dutton, 2015). 



Still, it's worth a read, especially as McCurley, writing with Kevin Maurer, recounts the hunting and killing of terrorists, especially the targeting of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American of Yemeni descent who inspired three high-profile terrorist acts: Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's shooting and killing of 13 people, Umar Farouk Abdulmautallab's failed "underwear bombing" attack aboard an airliner heading for Detroit, and the Boston Marathon bombers.

McCurley describes tracking terrorist leader Abu Musad al Zaaqawi for 480 hours only to fail the mission when an operator accidentally hit a space bar. McCurley shows how UAVs were used in Operation Steel Curtain and the Second Battle of Fallujah, assisting Marines. And, he describes – without ever mentioning the name of the mission – his involvement in the Navy SEALs' Operation Red Wings.

He takes credit for the Air Force zeroing in on the location of the SEAL team who had been ambushed in mountains of Kunar Province, Afghanistan, believing he heard a transmission from Marcus Luttrell (author of "Lone Survivor").

"We took pride in knowing we were the only aircraft able to make it to the area that day. The Predator's unique qualities were an asset in such a dangerous location. The Air Force would never put a human pilot in harm's way in those weather conditions given the threat from the Taliban, and even hough we lost two predators, my aircraft provided the first pictures of the crash site and possibly confirmed Luttrell's position through his radio transmission. Without that information, it would have taken a lot longer to launch the rescue operation."

McCurley does not mention the hero of Operation Red Wings by name: U.S. Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy. He does reveal the personal frustration and remorse of not being able to provide more support.

Several times in "Hunter Killer" McCurley spotlights differences between Air Force RPA and Navy Top Gun, even denigrating volleyball-playing stereotypes. The remote pilots' community comes across as disunited, disconnected but not disaffected by the lethality of some of their missions.

MQ-1 Predator (Senior Master Sgt. Stanley Thompson)

Those pilots see the "proximity of death" when their drones are used to bring lethality in high-definition. "No other pilots got to see the target like we did," he writes.

"Fighter pilots also rarely saw the whole engagement. They just got the call and put bombs on target. The closest they got to the fight was strafing runs and the occasional flash from the bomb or missile as it passed their windscreen. Their proximity to death and violence stirred their blood, but the images in their targeting pods were tiny and fuzzy compared to our high-def pods, keeping them remote to the effects on the ground. Our targeting pods not only showed us everything, but also lingered over the carnage, searing the images into our brains. Our experience was far different from that of the fighters."

The sights, sounds, smells and scorching heat of the Navy-operated Camp Lemmonier in Djibouti make it a desolate hell-hole, where McCurley says he got little support, especially from operations officer "Worm," "a lieutenant commander who acted like an admiral."

Yet he gives grudging credit to another naval officer, "Cruiser," as well as to then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen. Both were instrumental in getting parts and weapons for UAs that made it possible for the Air Force to carry out its mission.

An MQ-9 Reaper flies a training mission Oct. 18, 2017, at Creech Air Force Base, Nev. MQ-9 and MQ-1 Predator aircrews helped liberate Raqqah, Syria, from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s control in early October. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Christian Clausen)

This book is worth a read for anyone interested in an Air Force first-hand perspective on the development and history of remotely piloted aircraft such as the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper – unmanned air systems and aircraft (thou-shalt-not-call-them-"drones," but that's what they're called). Discipline, professionalism and following established rules of engagement are critical to the ethical use of remote warfare, especially as artificial intelligence is developed and implemented.

This book does not have an index, notes or glossary. It does have a good dedication: "to honor the small cadre of aviators, the operators, who fought and continue to fight a war deep in the shadows."

An MQ-9 Reaper sits on the flight line at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., Oct. 13, 2015.  (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Emily A. Kenney)

McCurley points out – both at the beginning and end of his book – how Gen. Hap Arnold predicted the rise of drones.

On V-J Day, 1945, Gen. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, U.S. Army Air Forces commander, said, “We have just won a war with a lot of heroes flying around in planes. The next war may be fought by airplanes with no men in them at all ... It will be different from anything the world has ever seen.”

Of course Winston Churchill made the same prediction in 1925 after WWI, and Leonardo da Vinci actually designed a drone in 1485. The history of UA, while benefitting from the Air Force's perspective including in "Hunter Killer," deserves a wider and deeper presentation.