“The most important thing is they’re creating jobs.” “It’ll be good for the economy here,” he said. Roy Freiman says he’s lived near the base for 35 years and has never heard of an issue at the base. “If they need a place to do it, it’s probably the best place to do it.” It’s probably a good use of the facility,” said Steven Babb. Let’s get some drones and get some jobs,” said Jim McLaughlin. “If they’re jobs involved, hey, with the economy the way it is, bring them on. “I think it’s one of the reasons why we got the mission here.”Īs for the people living and working around the base, most welcome the new mission and say they’re not concerned about security. If you cut and paste the mission of the A10 onto what the MQ-9 does, it’s almost an exact match,” Eissler said. Military presence at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station has shrunk in recent years with the Navy and Air Force leaving as the Department of Defense consolidated operations. The mission is a win for the Pennsylvania National Guard. That would only be the possible time we’d be allowed to fly.” “We’d have to fly and find out the extent of the damage. “We can’t fly them here because the FAA won’t let us – too much air traffic, as you can imagine around here.”Ĭraig says only a catastrophic event, like a nuclear bomb being detonated in Philadelphia, could bring the drones outside of that restricted airspace. “They would take off from there, fly in the area of Fort Indiantown Gap and then land at Fort Indiantown Gap,” Major General Wesley Craig, head of the Pennsylvania National Guard. Once there, the aircraft would only be permitted to fly in restricted airspace around Fort Indiantown Gap for training. Officials say if and when the drones come out of active service, they expect them to be housed at Fort Indiantown Gap National Guard Center in central Pennsylvania. Eissler says a control delay of about one second prevents the remote team from handling takeoff and landing. Once the mission is finished, the overseas ground team will again take over and land the drone. “That mission can last anywhere from a five hour to 19 hour to a 24 hour mission.” “We’ll get the satellite link hooked up with them, they’ll hand them off to Horsham and we will continue the mission,” Eissler says. That’s when the Horsham team will take over. Overseas, crews will pilot the drones through takeoff and send them to a cruising altitude of around 10,000 feet. Man wanted for attempted sexual assault at Oxford Valley Mall, police saidĭrones will not fly into or out of the Willow Grove Naval Air Station, they will simply be remotely controlled elsewhere. “We’re maybe a little tighter to the community than others, but the aircraft won’t be here so it’s not really a factor.” He says similar drone control teams are in place in bases across the country and haven’t seen issues. Eissler says officials aren’t concerned the new installation will become any more of a security target. The 200-acre station hugs homes, shopping centers and businesses in the bustling Montgomery County community. Currently, the station does not have around the clock gate security, but that will change. All of the positions are new and will need to be filled.Īt least $7 million will be spent to install the drone control station and upgrade security. Seventy-nine will be full-time positions working around the clock to help the drones carry out their mission. As commander of the 111th Fighter Wing, Eissler will oversee the mission which launches in October.Ī team of 250 pilots, sensor and weapon operators and support staff will be brought in to run the drone program. “This is an enduring mission for the Air Force and, I think, another solid foothold here in Horsham to keep the base viable for the years to come,” said Col. Pilots will remotely control MQ-9 Reaper drones on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions across the globe. The National Guard is building a drone ground-control station at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station in Horsham, Pa. It’ll soon be a reality as part of a new mission being entrusted to the Pennsylvania Air National Guard’s 111th Fighter Wing. Only, he’s not in the Middle East, rather sitting inside a control room in Montgomery County.

A pilot strikes a target from high above in a remote area of Afghanistan.

Drone jobs philadelphia