LOCAL BASE TEAMS ACTIVE IN IRAQ WAR.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer LANCASTER - Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. personnel played a vital role in the Iraq war Iraq War: see under Persian Gulf Wars. Iraq War or Second Persian Gulf War Brief conflict in 2003 between Iraq and a combined force of troops largely from the U.S. and Great Britain; and a subsequent U.S. , the base commander said Wednesday, including helping with the first ``bunker-buster'' bombing mission, which targeted Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (born April 28, 1937, Tikrit, Iraq—died Dec. 30, 2006, Baghdad) President of Iraq (1979–2003). He joined the Ba'th Party in 1957. Following participation in a failed attempt to assassinate Iraqi Pres. , and providing information on targets. In a speech before the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley Chambers of Commerce and later in a brief interview, Maj. Gen. Doug Pearson described the Edwards role in supporting the Iraq war effort. That effort included tests clearing the F-117 stealth stealth Any military technology intended to make vehicles or missiles nearly invisible to enemy radar or other electronic detection. Research in antidetection technology began soon after radar was invented. fighter to use a new type of one-ton bomb that was dropped the first night of the war on a building where Saddam Hussein was believed to be meeting with other Iraqi leaders. Two F-117s dropped a total of four of the bunker-buster bombs on the building that night. ``It had been cleared four hours before at Edwards,'' Pearson said. ``An F-117 went out of Palmdale to the range at Edwards and dropped two bombs.'' Edwards personnel also provided help in solving a software problem that some F-16 fighters were experiencing in releasing a bomb known as the joint direct-attack munition. ``Basically we got a 911 call in the night saying we've got a problem,'' Pearson said. Edwards was able to verify a fix for the software in less than 24 hours. The only Edwards aircraft deployed to Iraq was the unmanned Global Hawk reconnaissance  This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.You can assist by [ editing it] now. aircraft. Pearson said he could not disclose the number of Global Hawks sent from Edwards to Iraq; published reports, however, said that two were used during the war. Pearson said Global Hawk aircraft flew 1,500 hours in support of the war effort and provided images on 55 percent of the targets that were destroyed. Those targets included some 300 Iraqi tanks. ``There's a big future for this type of platform,'' Pearson said. Controlled by computer, the Global Hawk can fly 1,200 miles, linger over Verb 1. linger over - delay dwell on hesitate, waffle, waver - pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness; "Authorities hesitate to quote exact figures" its target for 24 hours Adv. 1. for 24 hours - without stopping; "she worked around the clock" around the clock, round the clock at nearly twice the altitude of a passenger jetliner, and then fly back. The Global Hawk's radar is capable of detecting objects 100 miles away, and its cameras provide still images clear enough to identify targets as far away as 30 miles. About 200 Edwards airmen continue to provide support for operations in Iraq, Pearson said. A handful of Edwards personnel who had been deployed for the war effort have returned. Base personnel will probably be an ongoing rotation of base personnel for those operations. ``We'll probably never get to zero,'' Pearson said of the numbers of Edwards personnel deployed overseas. |
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