Eyes from the sky: Robins Air Force Base’s Full Motion Video team

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE — When disaster strikes or when working with dignitaries, a team of six in the 52nd Combat Communications Squadron at Robins Air Force Base stands ready to be a critical source of information.

The squadron’s Full Motion Video team quickly responds to areas needing surveillance. SSgt. Diahmond Richards, a team supervisor, said their primary objective is to provide information, assurance and awareness feeds: video recorded from a jet and sent to an external website for review.

“Whatever the camera from the plane sees we would receive that and then upload it to a website, so that everybody else can see it,” Richards said.

Observers can then access the government-run website, keeping watch for anything out of the ordinary.

“it essentially allows a room full of analysts to watch the video we send and make sure that nothing crazy is going on,” Airman First Class Ethan Miller, a technician on the team, said.

Richards said much of the team’s work centers around the president. Their latest undertaking was 2024’s NATO Summit. The team also worked during former president Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021 and provided assistance during State of the Union addresses.

The team also stands ready to provide support and ensure safety during natural disasters.

“We also have the capability of doing that globally, deploying out and doing that, but we’re mainly focused on presidential support, right now. Whenever they would need us, they would call us out,” Richards said.

Providing this kind of support involves working with a vast array of technology, like cameras, satellites and radios. Miller said their main equipment is a ROVER 6 Transceiver, responsible for taking video feeds and decrypting them, ensuring they are visible and available to upload.

Richards said joining the team requires knowledge of setup and maintenance. Miller said this training is hands-on.

“At home, we have our own transmit side, so we have everybody set up the receive and transmit side, make sure they know how to set up both sides and make sure they can receive data,” Richards said, adding later. “[If] one way of receiving data goes down, we have a backup  — or a backup to a backup.”

Richards said the team responds to events after receiving a prepare-to-deploy order. The team decides which kits and which members are going, inspects the equipment to ensure it’s operational, packs it up, and travels to wherever they’re needed. Miller added every piece is airline-cleared, so the team can fly commercially, if needed, ensuring setup within 24 hours.

“It’s super simple: make sure the kit’s working, get up, and then pack it up and get out there as soon as possible,” Richards said.

Miller said the team exchanges information with pilots and ground crew, then waits for the plane to take off and reach its point of surveillance.

“We’ve got the antenna pointed up at the sky, and sometimes we’ll have a radio set up so we can actually talk to the guys in the plane. When they get up there, we’ll have the video feed and send it up. We can see it on our end; it’s pretty interesting,” Miller said.

Richards said the team is smaller but close-knit. Miller added the missions assigned to the team carry a great deal of meaning and each member has a specialty.

“It’s high-level event stuff, presidential-level stuff, or natural disaster response. So, to me, that’s some security in knowing that I’m actually the good guy here. I’m helping protect people, in a way,” Miller said.

As technology evolves, the team is preparing to use multi-purpose technology. Systems to capture video feeds are also being updated for higher video quality and compatibility with communication systems like Starlink, a satellite-based internet system.

“[Starlink] is a lot easier than setting it up the old way, the analog way, if you want to call it that. If people can see our squadron and how great it’s working for us, I’m sure it’ll get adopted DoD wide in no time,” Miller said.

Richards said overall the team is on the mission of providing awareness and assessment, serving as the base’s “eyes from the sky.” Miller said protecting people is the main goal.

Miller said, “We want to make sure that everybody can do their job to the best of their abilities, and if that means protecting high level people, presidents and ambassadors, or if it means helping somebody find somebody trapped in a house somewhere in Virginia, helping people, helping maintain integrity of equipment, that’s saving lives and saving money for the Air Force.”