USA — Air Force Chooses Bases for MQ‑1/9 Ground Control Stations

The Depart­ment of the Air Force released today its bas­ing deci­sion for the MQ‑1 and MQ‑9 ground con­trol sta­tions.

The final bases approved by the sec­re­tary and chief of staff of the Air Force are: White­man Air Force Base, Mo., and Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.

“The Air Force uses a delib­er­ate, repeat­able and trans­par­ent process to address bas­ing needs. These bases are the right loca­tions for the next set of MQ‑1/9 ground con­trol sta­tions,” said Kath­leen Fer­gu­son, deputy assis­tant sec­re­tary for instal­la­tions. “They will pro­vide the Air Force with the right kind of syn­er­gy for train­ing purposes.” 

The MQ‑1 ground con­trol sta­tion will be the first squadron and the MQ‑9 will be the sec­ond squadron. Each base will have an addi­tion of 280 peo­ple, both mil­i­tary and civilian. 

Ini­tial oper­a­tional capa­bil­i­ty (IOC) for the first squadron at White­man Air Force Base is expect­ed to be achieved by Feb­ru­ary 2011 and the sec­ond squadron locat­ed at Ellsworth Air Force Base is planned to achieve IOC by May 2012. 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs)