The 173rd Airborne Brigade brought several Shadow RQ-7B Unmanned Aerial Systems to Ukraine for the Fearless Guardian training that takes place near Lviv now. The price per system is $15.5 million. The video of the Shadow RQ-7B drone launch was posted today on the 173rd Airborne Brigade YouTube Channel. Sgt. Preston Hancock explained that this is part of the training of US paratroopers together with the National Guard of Ukraine.
Previously another video of Shadow RQ-7B spy drone launched in Ukraine was posted on June 1, 2015.
Sgt. Preston Hancock is in both videos, but the aircraft that was launched before is different, you can seen that by the serial number on the drone.
Sgt. Preston Hancock launching Shadow RQ-7B drone in Ukraine
On the video posted today you can see that the aircraft has 2192 serial number written on it. See the photo below.
Shadow RQ-7B UAV with serial number 2192
In the video published on June 1, 2015, you can see another Shadow RQ-7B UAV with serial number 2616. See the photo below.
Shadow RQ-7B UAV with serial number 2616
The 173rd Airborne Brigade’s Shadow RQ-7B drone in Ukraine
US mission to NATO also posted photos from the joint training at their Twitter account.
Yavoriv, Ukraine–US Army train Ukrainian Natl Guard soldiers on unmanned aerial systems during Fearless Guardian. pic.twitter.com/9YvQcuypJy
— US Mission to NATO (@USNATO) August 27, 2015
See more details about Shadow RQ-7B Unmanned Aerial System on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAI_RQ-7_Shadow At the end of April of 2015 President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and the United States Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt and visited joined training of the 173rd Airborne Brigade and National Guard of Ukraine.
#US Army 173rd Airborne Brigade on training in #Ukraine! A lot of great photos here https://t.co/2P9X9tmaE8 pic.twitter.com/TwUdnbdwNJ
— Lugansk News Today (@LUGANSK_TODAY) April 22, 2015
You can also read more about Fearless Guardian training at 290 USA Marines are coming to Ukraine in April to train National Guard.