WEBVTT

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Captain William W . I L L . I am . I'm

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deployed here to the three D . With

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expeditionary wing . The RQ four Uh was

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a platform that was a started

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development basically in the late 90s

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early thousands and uh began fielding

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as soon as the war began in Afghanistan .

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Um Initially it was operated on

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an A C . T . D . Platform which

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basically was a a test platform that

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was deployed to the O . R . And they

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began operations with it based on a jew

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on joint urgent operational needs .

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During that process it was determined

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that they wanted a bigger better

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version because the initial one was

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built again as a test platform so it

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wasn't as user friendly wasn't quite as

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as as well developed for employment as

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what we have now . The B model is

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basically designed to to fix those

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problems . And so it's basically the

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bigger newer version of the Global Hawk .

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Um Some things have been changed in the

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design of the platform . It's been made

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a little bit larger given higher fuel

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capacity so it can do longer missions .

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Uh the reconnaissance um

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payloads have been improved and there's

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additional payloads that we're not on .

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The A model including the ones that we

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have here , The bacon which has been

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integrated into the B . Model . So the

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B model is a basically a category of

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the Global Hawk that's a little bit

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bigger , a little bit better long term .

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It will be a little bit more reliable

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than the A model hopefully . And it's

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designed to have more support

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long term . Whereas the A model was an

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interim solution . The B model is a

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long term weapon system . The model was

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just meant to get from the that

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developmental Platform that we deployed

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to the B model which is now the

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long-term weapons system . The EQ four

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is are these particular to tales that

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we have here that are outfitted with

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the the bacon payload which is the

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battlefield airborne communications

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node . And because it's a

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communications C two platform , it

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doesn't fall into the reconnaissance

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umbrella if you will . So it's not an

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RQ for it's an EQ for there's still be

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model global hawks that have a

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communications platform on them instead

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of or I should say , I should say a

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communications payload on them instead

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of an is our payload . So they fulfill

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a different role . And so um there have

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been designated differently and so

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you'll hear him referred to as either

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the bacon global Hawk or the EQ for uh

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because they're the only ones that are

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basically , there's no need to say it

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because there's no a model of bacon

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birds . There's only the B model , the

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Global Hawk unlike some of the other ,

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I guess our drones doesn't offer full

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motion video Instead , what is taking

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our higher resolution still photographs

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and these can be disseminated within a

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matter of a few minutes to the

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appropriate parties . Um and they can

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be exploited through the normal

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exploitation process that we take where

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we are looking at imagery and analyzing

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it and so on and so forth . Um But

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basically it offers a higher resolution .

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Um I believe it's the same spectrums as

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the predator but I'm not a predator guy

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so I can't say that for sure . But I do

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know that obviously they have full

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motion video . We don't so we're more

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of in general were more of a strategic

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or operational type capability where we

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take pictures of things that are going

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on and disseminate those out . And

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it's it's more of the traditional is

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our role that you would have seen in a

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non wartime environment . However using

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it tactically here to take pictures of

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various things that don't require full

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motion video . But rather we're looking

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at it over the course of several days

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or we're looking at something um in

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order to prep for an operation that's

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coming up . So those are the kinds of

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things we're doing here with our I . S .

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Are platforms . What's really exciting

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about the bacon is it's a um it's a lot

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more of a tactical operational asset

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than the traditional S . R . Payloads

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that we've been flying . What's nice

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about Bacon because it allows for

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enhanced communications from tactical

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unit to tactical unit or tactical unit

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to operational , you know our command

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and control basically above them we can

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enhance their ability to communicate

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with one another in critical times and

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hopefully save some lives because um

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now a unit that previously would have

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been cut off by terrain , unable to

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communicate with their headquarters can

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now do that using the platform that we

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have behind us here in conjunction with

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the payload operators that are both

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here and at other locations throughout

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the are so so it's exciting from that

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standpoint because now we can bring

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something to the fight that literally

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will make the difference in life and

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death on a hopefully a regular basis at

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a tactical level . So that's kind of

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cool . In addition we're also with this

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bacon payload we are able to

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enhance the tactical C . Two networks

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within the theater of operations . So

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in other words if you've got people

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that are using um feeds like common

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operational picture feeds that will

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show them all the different players in

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the battle space . This jet basically

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or the payload is on this jet will take

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those what used to be segmented

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operational pictures in multiple places

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throughout the L . R . And combine

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those into one . Because you've got

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this platform that's up above 50,000 ft

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it's just loitering for 30 hours and

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it's basically a central communications

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node and that's why it's the

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battlefield airborne communications

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node because it senses a central node

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to that network and it links together

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the various common operational pictures

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that used to be segmented . So now an

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operator who's flying his F 16

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somewhere and wants a picture of what's

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going on up north , he can look at that

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whereas before he couldn't do that . So

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it's um or if he if he did it was only

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um at different times or he'd have to

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move up in that direction to join that

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network . My understanding is though

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that this payload will definitely

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enhance that and combine those and that

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ultimately was the idea of the Bacon

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payload is that it would take all these

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different Different types of c . two

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networks and different types of

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communications channels and bind them

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into one so that you could take a unit

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over here and a unit over there and you

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can put them together by bridging their

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communications together . So it's

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really a unique payload and in a place

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like Afghanistan where you know you

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have um terrain being such a factor a

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payload like this can really provide

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some critical support and uh so we're

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excited to have it on the Global hawk .

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Global Hawk basically fulfills the

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requests . Well the sword is that are

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requested by the so the says you're

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gonna fly X , Y and z . And the Global

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Hawk um meets those Taskings that are

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given to us by the T . O . The Global

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Hawk is going to provide reconnaissance .

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Obviously um a models here are going to

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require provide surveillance and

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reconnaissance and the Bacon is going

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to provide a command and control . And

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basically again it's an electronic

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platform . So it's gonna be command and

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control and of basically I say for

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leadership I start platform is going to

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be basically allowing for targeting and

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tracking and then

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you could also do B . D . A . Battle

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damage assessment . So we might go in

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and take a shot of something after

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after something happened uh helicopter

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crashes or something like that . So um

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there have been times when we go in and

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take a shot of the damage if we happen

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to be the closest asset and the

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helicopter goes down we'll go over

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there and take a picture under of

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course the guidance of the CPAC if

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that's what they want us to do the task

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us to that as the first operational

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launch of the Global Hawk be model .

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This is the beginning of the long term

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usage of this platform for S . R . C .

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To um into the future . So it's it's

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essentially the beginning of the

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performance phase for this program up

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till now it's been development testing

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and certainly there have been

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performance up until now with the

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interim A model kind of doing what it's

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supposed to do . But this is the first

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time that the B . Model has been able

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to come out and and start to do what

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it's been designed to do . So it's an

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exciting time for Global Hawk as the B .

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Model becomes operational . More and

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more we have different platforms that

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will roll out because we have more RQ

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four B . models that are performing

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that high altitude ice our mission .

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The aircraft performing the bacon

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mission Prior are still performing it

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um in Afghanistan . And they're

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basically bombarded earlier business

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jets and um they have the same platform

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on board . They're flying basically

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doing the same C . Two enhancement and

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they'll continue to do that . This

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platform is just gonna supplement them

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and provide a longer um

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basically more endurance and a more

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stable kind of central node .

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Uh huh . While the business jets have

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continued doing their thing and they'll

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do more of the tactical support now in

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terms of I . S . Are um these don't do

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I . S . Are Now if you want to talk

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about the A . Model in terms of ice are

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um basically the jet that was doing the

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high altitude ice . Our mission before

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was the Youtube . And it's still doing

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that mission and there's certain things

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that the Youtube does that the Global

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Hawk does not do . I have the utmost

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respect for the Youtube guys that the

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fly that airplane because it is a

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dangerous job . The maintenance guys

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supporting us are very hard working

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guys . They come out here and

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um work hard for their entire duration

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here . Turning jets fixing jets