Synopsis
The first of five Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) RQ-4D unmanned aircraft landed at AGS Main Operating Base Sigonella, Italy on 21 November 2019. Capable of flying at extreme altitudes for up to 30 hours, the AGS aircraft gives NATO crucial, on-demand intelligence support.
Footage includes shots of the RQ-4D arriving at Sigonella, and interviews with US Air Force Brigadier General Phillip Stewart, Force Commander of NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance, and Volker Samanns, General Manager of NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Management Agency (NAGSMA).
Transcript
- (00:00) WIDE SHOT – NATO AGS AIRCRAFT LANDING
- (00:08) VARIOUS SHOTS – CREW PREPPING AIRCRAFT FOR TOWING
- (00:25) VARIOUS SHOTS – AIRCRAFT BEING TOWED
- (01:00) WIDE SHOT – AIRCRAFT IN FRONT OF HANGAR
- (01:08) MEDIUM SHOT – NATO EMBLEM ON AIRCRAFT
- (01:15) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) VOLKER SAMANNS, GENERAL MANAGER, NATO ALLIANCE GROUND SURVEILLANCE MANAGEMENT AGENCY (NAGSMA)
“It’s a high-altitude aircraft, and it’s designed for ground reconnaissance. And with the arrival of that aircraft in Sigonella today, I think NATO had a historical marker. For the first time, after 22 hours, an aircraft, a NATO aircraft, was ferried from California to Sigonella. Great achievement.”
- (01:36) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) VOLKER SAMANNS, GENERAL MANAGER, NATO ALLIANCE GROUND SURVEILLANCE MANAGEMENT AGENCY
“For the first time, it’s a really NATO-owned and operated capability. So NATO and its decision bodies can really use that at their discretion. And this is a little bit different from nations providing a capability to NATO, so NATO has its own capability, if you will.”
- (01:58) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) BRIGADIER GENERAL PHILLIP STEWART, FORCE COMMANDER, NATO AGS
“Today, it started its journey in California. It took about 22 hours, and it flew non-stop here, which was actually not even the limit of its endurance. It has a 30-hour endurance, and to put that in perspective, it could fly from the North Pole to the South Pole non-stop if it wanted to. So it got here, but it’s about 2/3 of a fuel tank.”
- (02:16) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) BRIGADIER GENERAL PHILLIP STEWART, FORCE COMMANDER, NATO AGS
“Well, the beauty of the mission, and not just the plane, but the people itself, is it can be tasked for a full range of missions, all the way from crisis response for humanitarian disaster relief, to border security, all the way up to an Article 5 response. So there’s no crisis that this plane could not respond to.”
- (02:32) (02:16) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) BRIGADIER GENERAL PHILLIP STEWART, FORCE COMMANDER, NATO AGS
“Host Nation Italy has been fantastic. They provided this hangar, they’re doing the construction work. As you heard me talk earlier, they gave the license and registration. Never been done. So they just stepped up to the plate.”
