A member of the Afghan Special Mission Wing observes a compound while flying aboard a PC-12 Pilatus reconnaissance aircraft during an Sept. 1, 2015 surveillance mission in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Carlo Munoz/Stars and Stripes)
A member of the Afghan Special Mission Wing observes a compound while flying aboard a PC-12 Pilatus reconnaissance aircraft during an Sept. 1, 2015 surveillance mission in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Carlo Munoz/Stars and Stripes)
An member of the Afghan Special Mission Wing and a U.S. air adviser conduct surveillance for Afghan National Police commando units during a Sept. 1, 2015 reconnaissance mission. The wing is the primary source for real-time intelligence for the country's special operations forces. (Carlo Munoz/Stars and Stripes)
An Afghan soldier and his U.S. adviser with the Afghan military's Special Mission Wing conduct preflight checks on a PC-12 Pilatus surveillance aircraft before Sept. 1, 2015 nighttime reconnaissance mission. (Carlo Munoz/Stars and Stripes.)
An American air adviser assigned to the Afghan military's Special Mission Wing checks communications equipment aboard a PC-12 Pilatus reconnaissance before a Sept. 1, 2015 nighttime surveillance mission. (Carlo Munoz/Stars and Stripes.)
A U.S. air adviser attached to the Afghan Special Mission Wing pilots a PC-12 Pilatus around the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan during a Sept. 1, 2015 surveillance mission. (Carlo Munoz/Stars and Stripes)
The city lights of Kabul glow in the distance during an Sept. 1, 2015 aerial surveillance mission by Afghan Special Mission Wing. (Carlo Munoz/Stars and Stripes)
An American air adviser points out potential threats to an Afghan soldier with the Special Mission Wing during a Sept. 1, 2015 surveillance operation as a member of Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan looks on. (Carlo Munoz/Stars and Stripes.)
A U.S. air adviser with the Afghan military's Special Mission Wing conducts a maintenance check aboard a PC-12 Pilatus surveillance aircraft on July 30, 2015 at Hamid Karzai International Airport. (Carlo Munoz/Stars and Stripes.)
Two Mi-17 combat helicopters return to Hamid Karzai International Airport after a mission in Kunduz province on July 30, 2015. The Mi-17s and PC-12s make up the bulk of the Afghan military's Special Mission Wing. (Carlo Munoz/Stars and Stripes.)
KABUL, Afghanistan — Mizzou, an intelligence operator with the Afghan army’s special mission wing, stared at two black images transmitted by an infrared camera to his heads-up display inside a PC-12 Pilatus surveillance aircraft.
“Are those people? Are they moving?” an American air adviser sitting next to him asked quietly. About 16,000 feet below, a police commando unit held its position outside a compound on the outskirts of Kabul, waiting for the answer.
Manipulating the camera’s video-game-like controls, Mizzou zoomed in for a closer look.
After a minute, he replied: “No.” The commando unit’s leader was told that the objects were not threats and that his men could begin their assault.
Throughout the nearly two-hour mission, Mizzou would pan and scan the aircraft’s camera, confirming or dismissing potential threats as the spy plane circled slowly in the sky above the country’s capital.
When the wing was created some six years ago, this type of real-time intelligence was a pipe-dream to Afghanistan’s nascent national security forces. Now, its 450-man crew is responsible for 17 PC-12 single-engine turboprops, along with 30 Russian-built Mil Mi-17 transport helicopters, equipped with machine guns and rockets and fitted with Kevlar armor plating.
The Afghan air force has 52 more Mi-17s in its inventory.
The Pilatus planes were bought by the U.S. for the Afghan army’s special operations forces under a $218 million contract.
The team conducts all of the nighttime operations for special operations units for the country’s military and police. It is also responsible for all aerial surveillance and reconnaissance flights for those ground units.
