Soldiers train on Shadow

Spc. Christopher McPherson, center, unmanned aerial vehicle operator, 50th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, New Jersey Army National Guard, observes Spcs. Nicholas Erdos-Thayer, left, and Christopher Storkamp, both UAV maintainers with the 1-34th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, Minnesota Army National Guard, perform maintenance on a Shadow 200 RQ-7 drone at the 177th Fighter Wing’s Warren Grove Range Aug. 11, 2009. New Jersey and Minnesota Army National Guard Soldiers trained to validate the range’s capabilities to support the training and operational needs of tactical unmanned aircraft system units. The training will enable the 50th BTSB TUAS Platoon to be ready to receive the Shadow 200 RQ-7 fielding in 2011. The Shadow which is in operational service with the Army and Marine Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan is used to locate, recognize and identify targets more than 70 miles from a tactical operations center. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Mark Olsen/Released)