Erbil Air Base Commander: Any drone over Erbil Airport will be shot down

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Col. Scott Desormeaux, a Louisiana National Guard commander based in Erbil Air Base who leads US military forces in Iraq and northeastern Syria, told Kurdistan 24 that any drone – regardless of whether it is hostile or friendly – which flies over the Erbil International Airport will be shot down to protect civilian lives.

The airport was targeted by two explosive-laden drones just before midnight Saturday. The drones had attempted to hit the multinational coalition forces in Erbil Air Base, located on airport grounds. The base’s C-RAM defense system shot one of the drones down. The other one landed inside the airport’s perimeter but did not cause any casualties or damage to the facility.  

That wasn’t the first time coalition forces in Iraq have been targeted by Iran-backed armed groups which demand the complete withdrawal of US and other foreign troops that make up the Coalition against the Islamic State from that country. There are still 2,500 US troops in Iraq.

A military base north of the Kurdish capital of Erbil used by coalition forces was also targeted by a drone in early July. In June, an armed drones hit a residential building near the future US consulate just outside the city. The US retaliated, striking targets along the Iraq-Syria border belonging to the largely Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). Those airstrikes killed four militia members.

Col. Desormeaux said, in an August 24 interview with Kurdistan 24, that his National Guard brigade unit was able to improve the airport’s defenses against drones since it was deployed in the region back in February. It is expected to finish its mission before the end of this month.

When he took over the area of operations on February 1, Col. Desormeaux recalled that his priority was to direct all subordinate battalion commanders to improve defenses at bases in Iraq and northeast Syria. 

“Until we leave by the end of September, we are going to improve our defensive position,” he had told his commanders.

Now that his mission is almost over, he feels “very confident” about the effectiveness of the defense system they have established against one-way drones, also known as ‘suicide’ drones.

Using air defenses to protect Erbil International Airport from drones is quite challenging since civil aircraft are landing in and taking off from that facility at all times.

“I am now based at an international airport: so, what will be my worst day? If we shoot down a manned aircraft that is coming in. This goes contrary to what we are here to do, which is to protect lives,” Col. Desormeaux said. “So, we had to quickly understand how to deconflict our airspace to be able to kill that drone that is coming in.”

He said that drones of any kind could potentially endanger civilians at the airport.

“No one should fly any type of drone near an active runway. It doesn’t matter where you are,” Col. Desormeaux said, adding that some of these drones are civilian models innocently used to take pictures and videos of things like weddings. 

“There are always civilian planes,” he said. “This is an international airport.”

“That was absolutely the biggest part of our learning curve,” he said about the adjustments needed to provide better defenses for the Air Base while simultaneously ensuring adjacent civilian facilities and aircraft weren’t put in danger.

After working with his Asayish partners and the staff of Erbil International Airport, Col. Desormeaux said the Americans now have systems and processes in place that “can quickly divert manned aircraft to clear the airspace for us to make a shot on an unknown object coming into the base.”

“And it worked flawlessly since we put these new processes in place.”

Moreover, the Coalition forces also do rehearsal training exercises with the Asayish on how to coordinate against drone attacks effectively. 

“The Asayish provide the outer perimeter security here at (Erbil) International Airport, and we do drills together,” Col. Desormeaux said. “So, if we (shoot) down a drone, they will recover it. They are the first forces on the ground securing those locations.”

When his brigade first arrived at Erbil, the first drones they encountered were small reconnaissance drones, he recalled. The first suicide drones “sort of changed the game” since they necessitated the need for new forms of defense at the airport. 

Soldiers who had no prior experience dealing with such threats had to learn how to operate systems that weren’t in the brigade’s “standard package of equipment” they had trained “on from month to month (before deployment).”

“So, when you get to the theatre, you have to learn those systems,” Col. Desormeaux said.

The most significant change the Erbil Air Base commander made was the instructions given to the base’s radar operators, who are tasked with identifying whether an aircraft or drone is friendly. 

Apart from civilians and Coalition forces, Turkey and Iran-backed armed groups have also operated drones in the region. Turkish drones recently came close to Erbil International Airport. 

“I think the mindset (before) was that ‘we don’t want to shoot down our own (Coalition drones),’” Col. Desormeaux said. “So, they (the radar operators) were spending entirely too much time trying to figure out if it’s a friendly drone or an enemy drone. That’s why one of the first things we changed is: ‘I don’t care as long as it is not a manned aircraft.’”

“If one of our Coalition partners is not following protocols that they are supposed to follow for us to know (whether or not) it’s (a) friendly drone: Shoot it down,” he added. “This is because it’s not my job to determine the intent of the drone. Ok. And (if) it’s unmanned, again shoot it down.”

He explained that this approach gave the radar operators under his command the confidence to know he “had their back as a brigade commander” if they “made a mistake and shot down a friendly drone.” 

“Then I think that allowed them to very quickly develop processes to rule out manned aircraft and put protocols for all Coalition partners to follow, so if they don’t follow them, we don’t have any guilty feelings about shooting down your (drone),” he said. 

“It’s about empowering soldiers operating those systems to know we have confidence in them and we have their back and quickly move towards (a) kill (of) an unknown unmanned aircraft.”

Col. Desormeaux also emphasized that not much will change for US troops in Iraq even Washington and Baghdad have agreed to end the coalition’s combat role in Iraq by the end of the year.  

“I don’t see much of a change because that’s not what we are here to do at the brigade,” he said. 

US officials have also repeatedly stated that US troops no longer have any combat role in Iraq since last year. Instead, they have focused exclusively on training and advising local forces. Moreover, they will not pull out from either Syria and Iraq, as they recently did from Afghanistan.

“Well, from my brigade’ perspective, our role has not been a combat role,” Col. Desormeaux said. “Our job is to provide security, and I don’t think that role will change because even if we transition away from combat operations, there will still be people that want to do bad things to us.”

​​Moreover, he said Afghanistan didn’t change much for his mission. In fact, his soldiers ending up having more equipment as a direct result of that withdrawal.

“Some places closed in Afghanistan, so we moved equipment over here and it probably improved our positions.”