STEWART AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, N.Y. -- The 105th Airlift Wing at Stewart Air National Guard Base, New York, is introducing tethered drones to its arsenal of safety and security equipment to enhance its ability to respond to emergency situations and elevate situational awareness across the installation.
Tethered drones, unlike their free flying counter parts, are essentially deployable, mobile security cameras attached to a cable, according to Tech. Sgt. Brad Protsko, 105th Security Support Squadron training noncommissioned officer and liaison for this program. These “force multipliers” are meant to increase the effectiveness of security in emergencies and large wing events by providing aerial perspectives, he explained.
The Air National Guard Readiness Center has distributed a number of tethered drones throughout the Air National Guard, based on installations’ different mission sets and the value the drones can provide. There were two primary factors that led the 105th to receive and use these assets, according to Protsko.
First, these systems will give 105th members better situational awareness in a rapidly deployable package. They will increase Airmen’s overview of day-to-day security and aid in emergency response operations.
The second factor was the increased number of unarmed aerial systems, such as free-flying drones, spotted near airbases and airports throughout the Northeast in 2025. Tethered drones will help with the detection and deterrence of any encroachment into the 105th’s airspace that may be considered a threat to assets or personnel, according to Protsko.
“As technology grows and the world evolves in the current climate, we are always looking at ways to utilize force multipliers,” Protsko said. “These systems can help our personnel make more well-informed decisions, increase awareness in multiple different situations and build a comprehensive picture of any scenario presented to us.”
Any unit at the 105th that operates one of the tethered drone units will be able to tailor the abilities to their own needs.
For example, the drone kits can help the fire department detect problems without sending Airmen into harm’s way or assist civil engineers with inspecting tall buildings from the ground, requiring less time for diagnostics and allowing more time for problem-solving.
Another unit that will benefit from the drones is the 105th Base Defense Group, which can use them both for day-to-day security and as an eye in the sky to provide more information in an emergency situation. Protsko added that any time the 105th BDG can have real-time feed from another vantage point, the better.
The addition of these tethered drones to the 105th's arsenal will benefit daily operations across multiple units, as well as provide mission-critical situational awareness from an elevated perspective, enabling an even higher level of force protection at the wing.