18th Intelligence Squadron

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18th Intelligence Squadron
Active	1943–1945; 1951; 1993–2020; 2022–Present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Military intelligence
Part of	Air Combat Command
Garrison/HQ	Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado
Nickname(s)	Silver Bullet
Motto(s)	America's Silver Bullet
Engagements	Global War on Terrorism[1]
Decorations	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device Air Force Outstanding Unit Award[1]
Commanders
Current commander	Lt Col Marco Escalera
Insignia
18th Intelligence Squadron emblem (approved 24 August 1995)[1]

The 18th Intelligence Squadron is an intelligence organization of the United States Air Force, located at Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado.

The squadron was originally activated as the 5th Photographic Laboratory Section on 20 October 1943 at Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma. While training at Esler Field, Louisiana, it was redesignated as the 5th Photographic Technical Unit on 30 November 1944 and as the 18th Photographic Technical Unit on 29 January 1945.

The 18th moved overseas in the spring of 1945, arriving in Nancy/Azelot Airfield, France, little more than a month before V-E Day, on 22 March 1945. It was inactivated on 27 December 1945 at Bad Kissingen Airfield, Germany. In these early years, the unit served in the United States, France, and Germany.

The 68th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron was activated on 10 October 1951 at Lockbourne Air Force Base, Ohio as an original element of the 68th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, which was located at Lake Charles Air Force Base, Louisiana, and began to equip with Boeing B-29 Superfortresses borrowed from other units. However, before the end of the year, Strategic Air Command decided to change the 68th Wing mission to bombardment and the squadron was inactivated on 10 December 1951.^[1][2]

On 16 October 1984, the 18th Photographic Technical Unit and the 68th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron were consolidated as the 18th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron, but the consolidated unit remained inactive. It was redesignated the 18th Intelligence Squadron on 3 September 1993 and activated on 7 September 1993 at Falcon Air Force Base, Colorado, drawing its personnel and equipment from a detachment of a United States Air Force Security Service unit, which was discontinued.

The squadron's Detachment 1 was organized at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico in June 1995, and moved to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio during the summer of 2000. Detachment 1 was the Air Intelligence Agency's only transportable system conducting radio frequency phenomenology studies. Detachment 1 was discontinued on 8 June 2010 and merged with the 18th Intelligence Squadron, which moved from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California to Wright-Patterson. Assigned personnel provide data in support of Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency, National Air and Space Intelligence Center, and United States Strategic Command missions as well as information critical to the National Security Agency and other national-level organizations.

The squadron provided intelligence for the planning, development, and execution of space control operations. The squadron consisted of a headquarters element at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio^[3] and two geographically separated detachments: Detachment 2, Osan Air Base, Korea; and Detachment 4, RAF Feltwell, United Kingdom.^[4]

The 18th was assigned to the 544th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group, of Twenty-Fifth Air Force of Air Combat Command. Through fixed and mobile sites, it provided scientific and technical collection to National Security Agency, Air Force Materiel Command, and the 21st Space Wing, Passive Space Surveillance mission. Where available, it also provided limited analysis to the entities.^[5]

The squadron INactivated during September 2020 and then reactivated as the US Space Force's 73rd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squadron which assigned to Space Delta 7.^[6]

On 26 September 2022, the 18th Intelligence Squadron was reactivated as a part of the 544th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group with the headquarters relocating to Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado under the command of Major Ryan Laine.

18th Photographic Technical Unit

• Constituted as The 5th Photo Lab[oratory] Section on 9 October 1943

Activated on 20 October 1943

Redesignated 5th Photographic Technical Unit on 30 November 1944

Redesignated 18th Photographic Technical Unit on 29 January 1945

Inactivated on 27 December 1945

Consolidated with the 68th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron as the 18th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron on 16 October 1984^[1]

18th Intelligence Squadron

• Constituted as the 68th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron and activated on 18 October 1951

Inactivated on 27 December 1951

Consolidated with the 18th Photographic Technical Unit as the 18th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron on 16 October 1984

• Redesignated 18th Intelligence Squadron on 3 September 1993

Activated on 7 September 1993^[1]

• 76th Tactical Reconnaissance Group, 20 October 1943
• 69th Tactical Reconnaissance Group, 19 April 1944
• XII Tactical Air Command, 23 June–27 December 1945
• 68th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, 18 October–10 December 1951
• 544th Intelligence Group (later 544th Information Operations Group, 544th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Group), 7 September 1993–September 2020^[1][6]
• 544th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group, 26 September 2022–Present

• Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma, 20 October 1943
• Thermal Army Air Field, California, 26 November 1943
• Esler Field, Louisiana, 8 May 1944
• Key Field, Mississippi, c. 29 January–26 Feb 1945
• Nancy-Azelot Airfield (A-95),^[7] France, 22 March 1945
• Haguenau (Y-39),^[7] France, 3 April 1945
• Mannheim-Sandhofen Airfield (Y-79),^[7] Germany, 13 July 1945
• Darmstadt-Griesheim Airfield (Y-76),^[7] Germany, 19 September 1945
• Bad Kissingen Airfield, Germany, 5–27 December 1945
• Lockbourne Air Force Base, Ohio, 10 October 1951 – 10 December 1951
• Falcon Air Force Base (later Schriever Air Force Base), Colorado, 7 September 1993
• Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, 1 November 2004^[1]
• Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio June 2010^[3]
• Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado c. September 2022

• Detachment 1 – Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico,^[8] June 1995 – 2000
• Detachment 1 – Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, 2000 – 8 June 2010^{[note 1]}
• Detachment 1 – Vandenberg AFB, California, Summer 2013 – September 2020

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio,^[9] (31 Aug 2000 – 8 June 2010) Griffiss Air Force Base, New York, 7 September 1993 – 31 August 2000

• Detachment 2 – Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea,^[8] 1 January 1994 – unknown
• Detachment 3 – Misawa Air Base, Japan,^[8] 1 January 1994 – 30 June 2002
• Detachment 4 – RAF Feltwell, United Kingdom,^[8] 1 January 1994 – September 2020
• Detachment 5 – RAF Edzell, Scotland,^[8] 1 January 1994 – 20 September 1997^[10]
• Detachment 6 – Holloman AFB, New Mexico, 1 April 1995 – 15 June 1995 (redesignated Detachment 1)
• Operating Location VN – Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, 8 June 2010 – Summer 2013

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (June 2023)

• Lt Col Marco Escalera
• Lt Col Nathaniel A. Peace, 2020 – 7 July 2022^[11]
• Lt Col Jeffrey Coverdale, 7 July 2022 – 2023^[12]
• Lt Col Christopher Seidler, 2023 – July 2024
• Lt Col Daniel Robinson, July 2024

Explanatory noted

Citations

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Johnson, David C. (1988). U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO) D-Day to V-E Day (PDF). Maxwell AFB, AL: Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
• Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947-1977. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Richelson, Jeffrey T. (1995). The United States Intelligence Community (3rd ed.). Boulder, CO: Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-8133-2376-3.

• Buckley SFB Official Website