The

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

's 17th Expeditionary Space Control Squadron is a provisional unit of the

stationed at

Peterson Air Force Base Peterson Space Force Base, previously Peterson Air Force Base, Peterson Field, and Army Air Base, Colorado Springs, is a U.S. Space Force Base that shares an airfield with the adjacent Colorado Springs Municipal Airport and is home to the Nor ...

, Colorado. As the 17th Space Surveillance Squadron, the unit operated sensors for the Low-Altitude Surveillance System from

RAF Feltwell Royal Air Force Feltwell or more simply RAF Feltwell is a Royal Air Force station in Norfolk, East Anglia that is used by the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa. The station is located about 10 miles west of Thetford, and i ...

History

The

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

was first organized at

Moorestown, New Jersey Moorestown is a Township (New Jersey), township in Burlington County, New Jersey, Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia and geographically part of the South Jersey region of the state. As of ...

as the 17th Surveillance Squadron. The 17th operated a radar sensor for the USAF Spacetrack System at Moorestown until it was inactivated in December 1969. The squadron was redesignated the 17th Radar Squadron and activated at Ko Kha Air Station, Thailand in September 1971. At Ko Kha, it tracked Chinese missile launches and southerly launches from the Soviet Union, until its inactivation in May 1976. The 17th returned to its original designation of 17th Surveillance Squadron and was activated at

Naval Station San Miguel Naval Station San Miguel is an installation of the Philippine Navy located in Barangay San Miguel, San Antonio, Zambales, Philippines. The United States turned over the base to the Philippine government in 1992. History The U.S. Naval Communicat ...

, Philippines on 1 August 1982. At San Miguel, the unit operated a radar sensor for the

United States Space Surveillance Network The United States Space Surveillance Network (SSN) detects, tracks, catalogs and identifies artificial objects orbiting Earth, e.g. active/inactive satellites, spent rocket bodies, or fragmentation debris. The system is the responsibility of Uni ...

. Its AN/GPS-10 radar reached

initial operational capability Initial operating capability or initial operational capability (IOC) is the state achieved when a capability is available in its minimum usefully deployable form. The term is often used in government or military procurement. The United States D ...

in April of the following year and the squadron continued operating it until shortly before inactivating again in June 1989, when its radar was decommissioned and replaced by a radar at

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

. Reactivating again in October 1993 at

RAF Edzell The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, Scotland as the 17th Space Surveillance Squadron, it operated sensors for the Low-Altitude Space Surveillance System, until its inactivation and the closure of RAF Edzell in 1996. With the inactivation of the 73rd Space Group and closure of RAF Edzell, Scotland, in October 1996, the

5th Space Surveillance Squadron The United States Space Force's 5th Electromagnetic Warfare Squadron (5 EWS) is a space electromagnetic warfare unit located at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado. Mission The mission of the 5 SSS was to operate the Low Altitude Space Surveill ...

, at

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

incorporated the squadron's mission. In May 2009, the squadron was converted to provisional status as the 17th Expeditionary Space Control Squadron and assigned to

Air Force Space Command The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

to activate or inactivate as needed. Space Command immediately activated the squadron at

, Colorado.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 17th Surveillance Squadron and activated on 1 November 1966 (not organized) : Organized on 1 January 1967 : Inactivated on 31 December 1969 * Redesignated 17th Radar Squadron on 20 May 1971 : Activated on 1 September 1971 : Inactivated on 31 May 1976 * Redesignated 17th Surveillance Squadron on 28 December 1981 : Activated on 1 August 1982 : Inactivated on 1 June 1989 * Redesignated 17th Space Surveillance Squadron on 25 October 1993 : Activated on 15 November 1993 : Inactivated on 1 July 1996 * Redesignated 17th Expeditionary Space Control Squadron, converted to provisional status, and activated on 28 May 2009

Assignments

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was est ...

, 1 November 1966 (not organized) *

73d Aerospace Surveillance Wing Space Delta 3 (DEL 3) is a United States Space Force unit responsible for presenting operational combat-ready space electromagnetic warfare forces in support of assigned missions. It is headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base. Activated o ...

, 1 Januar 1967 – 31 December 1969 * Fourteenth Aerospace Force, 1 September 1971 – 31 May 1976 * 3d Air Division, 1 August 1982 *

1st Space Wing The 1st Space Wing was a wing of the United States Air Force active from 1983 to 1992 at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado as part of Air Force Space Command.21st Operations Group, 26 April 1995 – 1 July 1996 * Air Force Space Command to activate or inactivate as needed, 28 May 2009 :: Attached to

21st Space Wing The 21st Space Wing (21 SW) was the United States Space Force's ground–based missile warning and space control wing. The 21st Space Wing was assigned to Space Operations Command and headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. The 21st ...

, 28 May 2009 –

Stations

* Moorestown, New Jersey, 1 January 1967 – 31 December 1969 * Ko Kha Air Station, Thailand, 1 September 1971 – 31 May 1976 * Naval Station San Miguel, Philippines, 1 August 1982 – 1 June 1989 * RAF Edzell, Scotland, 15 November 1993 – 1 July 1996 * Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, 28 May 2009 –

Decorations

Air Force Outstanding Unit Award The Air and Space Outstanding Unit Award (ASOUA) is one of the Awards and decorations of the United States Department of the Air Force, unit awards of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. It was established in 1954 as the A ...

**1 October 1995 – 30 September 1997AFSPC Special Order GA-09, 1 November 1997 **1 August 1982 – 31 July 1983 **14 September 1973 – 17 February 1975

References

Notes

Bibliography

* {{USAF Space Command Space squadrons of the United States Air Force