Country United States Size 123 | Type Space Control | |
Active 1966-1993; 2007-Present Branch United States Air Force Role Passive Radio Frequency Surveillance | ||
The United States Air Force's 16th Space Control Squadron is an Air Force Space Command unit located at Peterson AFB, Colorado and assigned to the 21st Space Wing. The 16th SPCS operates the Rapid Attack Identification Detection Reporting System (RAIDRS).
Contents
Mission
The 16th SPCS is AFSPC's first defensive counterspace unit. The unit is responsible for operating space control capabilities to rapidly achieve flexible and versatile space superiority in support of theater campaigns and USSTRATCOM's Space Superiority mission.
History
16th SPCS was activated in November 1966 as the 16th Surveillance Squadron, Shemya AFS, Alaska, under Air Defense Command. The unit mission was to operate the Cobra Dane long-range early warning radar system, used to track Soviet missile launches. It was assigned to the 73d Aerospace Surveillance Wing in January 1967 and then to the 14th Aerospace Force in April 1971.
The unit was again reassigned in 1983, this time to the 1st Space Wing as one of the original squadrons in the newly established Air Force Space Command. In 1991, it was assigned to the 73d Space Group. In 1992, the unit was designated the 16th Space Surveillance Squadron. The unit was inactivated in 1994.
The unit was reactivated at Peterson AFB in May 2007 under the 21st Space Wing to operate the RAIDRS defensive counterspace system.
Since mid-2005, Operation SILENT SENTRY, operating the predecessor to RAIDRS, called the Satellite Interference Response System (SIRS) has been continually deployed to the Middle East. Since January 2007, operators from the 16 SPCS have provided manpower for the mission.