Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
An MQ-9 reconnaissance drone aircraft in flight.
Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis is home to MQ-9 drone aircraft like the one that crashed into the Black Sea after an encounter with Russian aircraft on Tuesday. But neither Cannon aircraft nor personnel were involved in the incident, according to a Cannon subject-matter expert on MQ-9s.
The drone that was downed was not stationed at Cannon and was not piloted from Cannon, according to Lt. Col. Christopher Cornish.
Cornish wrote in an email that the MQ-9A Reaper is one of five types of aircraft assigned to Cannon. The MQ-9A, he wrote, "provides intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance" but can also carry precision weapons.
Cornish wrote that the MQ-9A is "a highly capable platform that excels across a wide range of missions."
The MQ-9s at Cannon, Cornish wrote, are used for training and for deploying to "launch and recovery operations" by Cannon's 12th Special Operations Squadron (SOS).
In addition, he wrote, the Third and 33rd SOS train for and fly the drone aircraft to accomplish specialized missions. Because of security considerations, Cornish wrote, the Air Force cannot divulge the number of such aircraft or the number of Air Force personnel assigned to MQ-9 operations.
The units assigned to fly and operate the MQ-9 around the Black Sea, Cornish wrote, are assigned to the United States European Command, and none are deployed from Cannon.
The MQ-9 surveillance drone that crashed into the Black Sea on Tuesday was struck by a Russian Sy-27 jet aircraft, according to U.S. military sources. Russia has denied there was a collision, and said the drone crashed due to its maneuvering after the Russian jets neared the U.S. drone.
