By Brian Livingston / blivingston@themeridianstar.com
The Meridian Star
MERIDIAN —
It isn't every day you get to receive a delivery from a United States Air Force three-star general.
But there Col. Franklin Chalk was Tuesday morning standing on the tarmac of the G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery National Guard Complex at Key Field patiently waiting as Lt. Gen. Craig Koziol officially handed over the keys of the last MC-12 aircraft destined for training missions at the Meridian base.
"What the 186th Air Refueling Wing has done in the year Project Liberty has been in place here is truly remarkable," said Koziol, who is the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Intelligence) for Joint and Coalition War fighter Support. "I just wanted to be a part of the last aircraft to come here for training crews and thank Col. Chalk and his airmen and women for the outstanding work they have done."
As Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Intelligence) for Joint and Coalition War fighter Support, Koziol serves as the principal adviser to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence on operational issues concerning departmental Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR) programs and related ISR activities supporting the war fighter. Additionally, his responsibilities include policy, strategy and doctrine; war fighter requirements and evaluation; information operations and strategic studies; and special programs.
Project Liberty was an ISR initiative highly recommended and backed by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Gates instituted the program to provide more real-time information for the war fighter and commanders on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. Roughly a year ago the 186th ARW was tasked with implementing and standing up a training program at Key Field. Since then, more than 30 aircraft and air crews have come and gone through Meridian straight to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan producing astonishing results.
"The 186th should be very proud of the job they have done," said Koziol. "They understood the impact this program would have for the war fighter and have shown excellent dedication to the mission."
Koziol said 30 aircraft have been designated for missions while seven will serve as training platforms.
"We just had the right people at the right place at the right time," said Chalk, noting the base already had a core group of pilots, crew and maintenance personnel attached to the RC-26 surveillance aircraft already on mission at the base."
Chalk said the MC-12 Program would likely continue to run for another six months to a year at the base.
The main focus of Project Liberty is tactical intelligence collection. The U.S. Air Force announced on Jan. 23, 2009 that it had launched a crash effort to deploy 37 manned aircraft to Iraq and Afghanistan from April to aid high-value targeting and other tactical intelligence missions. The most important job of the sensors on the MC-12 will be to facilitate accurate weapon targeting — especially for high-value targets — during ongoing operations. Identifying improvised explosive devices, which are on the rise in Afghanistan, will also be a mission. The crew consists of a pilot, a co-pilot, a sensor operator and a cryptologic operator, while imagery analysts in the ISR exploitation cell act as a fifth crewmember, exploiting information and liaising with ground forces.
Officials from the 186th ARW train pilots and sensor crews on the aircraft. In less than two years, three squadrons have stood up as solely expeditionary units with no permanent home station. One squadron operates in Iraq while the other two are currently flying missions in Afghanistan in support of troops.
Koziol spent about an hour touring the MC-12 training facility and talking with pilots and crews.
