Saha Expo International Defense Exhibition Turkey Istanbul

US 501st Aviation Regiment first AH-64 helicopter unit with Shadow UAV will be deployed in Kuwait 12905151

Armies in the world - United States

US 501st Aviation Regiment first AH-64 helicopter unit with Shadow UAV will be deployed in Kuwait.

U.S. soldiers in the first AH-64 Apache unit to receive Shadow unmanned aerial systems are training hard to work out the kinks in preparation for their deployment this summer to the Middle East. The 1st Armored Division's 3rd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment will deploy in August to Kuwait in support of Operation Spartan Shield. (Source ArmyTimes)

The 1/501st Aviation Battalion on Fort Bliss, Texas was redesignated 3rd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment and now equipped with AH-64E Apache Guardian and RQ-7Bv2 Shadow unmanned aerial vehicle.

This will be the unit's first deployment in its new configuration — just under 500 soldiers from Fort Bliss, Texas, will deploy along with 12 Shadows. The unit will fall in on 24 Apaches already in theater.

The squadron, which was reflagged March 16 from 1st Battalion, 501st Aviation Regiment, was the first of 10 Apache units to receive the Shadow. This made it the first Apache battalion to be converted to a heavy attack reconnaissance squadron.

The conversion added three platoons of RQ-7 Shadow unmanned aerial systems to the unit and is part of the Army's five-year Aviation Restructuring Initiative. Part of the restructure eliminates the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior, the venerable armed scout reconnaissance helicopter, from the Army's inventory.

Since the beginning of the year, the squadron has conducted four major training events that have "helped to hone our pairing of the Apaches and the Shadows," said Command Sgt. Maj. Terri Clavon, the squadron's senior enlisted soldier.

The Apache pilots and Shadow crews have benefited from being in the same unit and working together so closely, Clavon said.

To start, the Shadow operators and maintainers spent months learning the unmanned aerial system. The squadron then conducted Operation Heavy Shadow, where the Apaches and Shadows flew together so the soldiers could learn how to better work together, Clavon said. It was the first ever tactical exercise to team Apaches and Shadows organically.

The crews then moved up to manned-unmanned teaming exercises, where for the first time an Army heavy attack reconnaissance squadron used Shadows to point out targets during a live-fire training, he said.