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 548th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group is an intelligence unit located at

Beale AFB Beale Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base located approximately east of Marysville, California. It is located outside Linda, about east of the towns of Marysville and Yuba City, and about north of Sacramento. The host ...

, California. The group was first activated as the 6th Photographic Technical Squadron in November 1943. After training in the United States, it deployed to the

Southwest Pacific Theater The South West Pacific theatre, during World War II, was a major theatre of the war between the Allies and the Axis. It included the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies (except for Sumatra), Borneo, Australia and its mandate Territory of ...

, serving in the Pacific until

VJ Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on ...

. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the squadron remained in the Far East, serving in the

occupation Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

forces in Japan. It was still in Japan as the 548th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron, when the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

began in June 1950. It supported reconnaissance units in Japan until inactivated in 1960. The squadron was activated to support

Pacific Air Forces Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) is a Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force and is also the air component command of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). PACAF is headquartered at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam (fo ...

Hickam Air Force Base Hickam Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation, named in honor of aviation pioneer Lieutenant Colonel Horace Meek Hickam. The installation merged in 2010 with Naval Station Pearl Harbor to become part of the newly formed Joint ...

in October 1965. As the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

increased the need for photographic interpretation, it expanded to become a

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

two years later. The 548th continued to serve in the Pacific until inactivating in 1992. As the 548th Air Intelligence Group the unit was activated in August 1992, supporting

Air Combat Command Air Combat Command (ACC) is one of nine Major Commands (MAJCOMs) in the United States Air Force, reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force (HAF) at the Pentagon. It is the primary provider of air combat forces for the Air Force, and i ...

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

requirements until October 1994 when it was again inactivated. Its most recent activation at

Beale Air Force Base Beale Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base located approximately east of Marysville, California. It is located outside Linda, about east of the towns of Marysville and Yuba City, and about north of Sacramento. The host ...

took place in October 2003.

Mission

The mission of the 548 ISRG is to operate and maintain a $1B AN/GSQ-272 "Sentinel" weapon system (also known as Distributed Ground Station or DGS), and provide combatant commanders with processing, exploitation, and dissemination (PED) of actionable intelligence data collected by U-2, MQ-1,

MQ-9 The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the Unit ...

and

RQ-4 The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, remotely-piloted surveillance aircraft of the 1990s–2020s. It was initially designed by Ryan Aeronautical (now part of Northrop Grumman), and known as Tier II+ during development. The ...

aircraft and other platforms as required.

History

The group was first activated in November 1943 as the 6th Photographic Technical Squadron.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 6th Photographic Technical Squadron on 20 November 1943 : Activated on 1 Dec 1943 * Redesignated 548 Reconnaissance Technical Squadron on 7 January 1950 : Discontinued on 8 March 1960 : Organized on 8 October 1965 * Redesignated 548th Reconnaissance Technical Group on 1 October 1967 : Inactivated on 3 July 1991 * Redesignated 548th Air Intelligence Group on 1 August 1992 : Activated on 27 August 1992 : Inactivated on 1 October 1994 * Redesignated 548th Intelligence Group on 23 October 2003 : Activated on 1 December 2003 * Redesignated 548th Intelligence, surveillance and Reconnaissance Group on 1 January 2009

Assignments

III Reconnaissance Command The III Reconnaissance Command is a disbanded United States Army Air Forces unit. Its last assignment was with Third Air Force stationed at Rapid City Army Air Base, South Dakota, where it was inactivated on 8 April 1946. After transferring to ...

, 1 December 1943 *

Thirteenth Air Force The Thirteenth Air Force (Air Forces Pacific) (13 AF) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It was last headquartered at Hickam Air Force Base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. 13 AF has never been stat ...

, 13 May 1944 * 91st Reconnaissance Wing, 10 November 1945 * Pacific Air Command, US Army (later

Far East Air Forces Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) is a Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force and is also the air component command of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). PACAF is headquartered at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam (fo ...

), 27 January 1946 *

Fifth Air Force The Fifth Air Force (5 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Yokota Air Base, Japan. It is the U.S. Air Force's oldest continuously serving Numbered Air Force. The organiza ...

, 5 January 1950 * Far East Air Forces, 18 February 1950 * Japanese Air Defense Force, 1 May 1952 * 6007th Composite Reconnaissance Group (later 6007th Reconnaissance Group, 11 August 1954 * Far East Air Forces, 2 April 1955 * 6007th Reconnaissance Group, 1 July 1955 * Fifth Air Force, 1 July 1957 *

67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing 67 may refer to: * 67 (number) * one of the years 67 BC, AD 67, 1967, 2067 * ''67'', a 1992 song by Love Battery from the album ''Between the Eyes'' * 67 (rap group), a drill music group from London See also * 67th Regiment (disambiguation) * 67 ...

, 1 October 1957 – 8 March 1960 * Pacific Air Forces, 30 June 1965 – 3 July 1991 *

, 27 August 1992 *

Second Air Force The Second Air Force (2 AF; ''2d Air Force'' in 1942) is a USAF numbered air force responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and non-flying officers. In World War II the CONUS unit defended ...

, 1 October 1992 *

Twelfth Air Force The Twelfth Air Force (12 AF; Air Forces Southern, (AFSOUTH)) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The command is the air component to U ...

, 1 July 1993 – 1 October 1994 * 480th Intelligence Wing (later 480th Intelligence, Surveillance and Intelligence Wing), 1 December 2003 – present

Components

9th Intelligence Squadron The United States Air Force's 9th Intelligence Squadron is an intelligence unit located at Beale Air Force Base, California. The 9th is associated with Lockheed U-2 and Distributed Common Ground System operations. The squadron was first active du ...

(???-Present) *

13th Intelligence Squadron The 13th Intelligence Squadron (13 IS) is part of the 548th Intelligence Group at Beale Air Force Base. It is one of the exploitation units for the Lockheed U-2 (operated out of Beale AFB), MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper (operated out of Nellis, ...

(???-Present) * 48th Intelligence Squadron (???-Present)

Stations

Will Rogers Field Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

, Oklahoma, 1 December 1943 – 11 April 1944 *

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

, Solomon Islands, 13 May - 28 November 1944 *

Morotai Morotai Island ( id, Pulau Morotai) is an island in the Halmahera group of eastern Indonesia's Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is one of Indonesia's northernmost islands. Morotai is a rugged, forested island lying to the north of Halmahera. It ha ...

, Philippines, 12 December 1944 * Camp Dulag, Leyte, Philippines, 30 September 1945 *

Fort William McKinley Fort Andres Bonifacio (formerly named Fort William McKinley) is the site of the national headquarters of the Philippine Army (Headquarters Philippine Army or HPA) located in Metro Manila, Philippines. It is located near the national headquarter ...

, Luzon, Philippines, 22 November 1945 *

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan, 17 May 1946 * Yokota Army Air Base (later

Yokota Air Base , is a Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) and United States Air Force (USAF) base in the Tama Area, or Western Tokyo. It occupies portions of Akishima, Fussa, Hamura, Mizuho, Musashimurayama, and Tachikawa. The base houses 14,000 personnel ...

), Japan, September 1946 * Showa Air Station, Japan, 30 June 1958 * Yokota Air Base, Japan, 6–8 March 1960 *

, Hawaii, 8 October 1965 – 3 December 1991 *

Langley Air Force Base Langley Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Hampton, Virginia, adjacent to Newport News, Virginia, Newport News. It was one of List of airfields of the Training Section of the United States Army Air Service, thirty-two ...

, Virginia, 27 August 1992 – 1 October 1994 *

, California, 1 December 2003 – present

Awards and campaigns

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

External links

{{AFISRA Intelligence groups of the United States Air Force Military units and formations in California