On Jan. 14, 2014, USS Elrod left her home port in Norfolk, Virginia for what, to outsiders, might have seemed like a routine six-month trip to the Mediterranean.
Carrying a detachment of four MQ-8B Fire Scout drone helicopters, the nearly 30-year-old frigate would visit various ports and train with America’s allies, according to an official press release.
Elrod’s mission was to “advance national security interests in Europe and Africa,” the U.S. Navy explained when it retired the aged warship a year later.
While off the coast of North Africa, Elrod’s crew kept an eye out for pirates, escorted the oil tanker Morning Glory back to Libya after Navy SEALs freed the vessel from militant hijackers and helped rescue a group of refugees trying to make it to Europe in small boats.
What the sailing branch didn’t say was that Elrod also sent its pilotless choppers on a high-stakes search for a top terrorist.
“Detachment Two successfully completed more than 300 overland … sorties … developing [a] pattern of life for U.S. Africa Command’s number-one target,” officials from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 60 wrote in theirannual report for 2014.
War Is Boring obtained a copy of the historical review via the Freedom of Information Act.
At the time, the squadron flew both SH-60 Seahawk sub-hunting choppers and the MQ-8 drones. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, the unit regularly sends teams around the world to support various missions.
The 2,000-pound Fire Scouts come equipped with a powerful infrared video camera and can also carry extra gear on small, side-mounted pylons. On average, the small choppers can fly for between four and five hours — depending on what they’re carrying — before needing to land and refuel.
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