A-10 Close Air Support Fort Drum Range 48
Video by Master Sgt. Eric Miller | 174th Attack Wing
13 members of the 274th Air Support Operation Squadron (ASOS) along with 13 members of the Dutch Air Force participated in Joint Tactical Air Control (JTAC) training at Fort Drum Range 48. The 274th ASOS is a Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) unit that commands, controls, and coordinates Close Air Support (CAS) for an army maneuver unit. Their mission is to advise U.S. Army ground Commanders on how to best utilize US and NATO assets for CAS. The purpose of the training was to help the Dutch Air Force get familiar with aircraft they’ll be flying in the future. The A-10 Thunderbolt II and the MQ-9 Reaper were used for training. The Adirondack Air to ground gunnery range is a training area, labeled Adirondack Joint Range (Fort Drum R-48). The range is concealed by trees and looks like a post-apocalyptic battlefield – a graveyard for outdated military equipment that have been re-purposed to serve as training targets. Range 48 is the largest live-fire range on Fort Drum, allowing service members to train on everything from small arms to artillery to allowing military pilots to practice firing weapons systems. The New York Air National Guard’s 174th Attack Wing (ATKW) runs the remote range.