13th Intelligence Squadron

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The 13th Intelligence Squadron (13 IS) is a United States Air Force unit at Beale Air Force Base, California. It is part of the 548th Intelligence Group and works with other units to exploit data from the U-2 and unmanned aircraft such as the MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper, and RQ-4 Global Hawk. Its mission is to operate Distributed Ground Station-2 (DGS-2) and provide near-real-time, multisource intelligence by analyzing data from these sensors for combatant commanders.

The squadron’s history goes back to World War II. It was first formed in February 1945 as the 13th Photographic Technical Unit in the Netherlands, later serving in France and Germany before being inactivated in November 1945. It was reactivated in April 1963 in Vietnam as the 13th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron, focusing on tactical reconnaissance photo-processing and exploitation. It moved to Clark Air Base in the Philippines in 1967 and was inactivated again in 1971.

In 1992, Detachment 1 of the 548th Air Intelligence Group at Beale prepared the site for Deployable Ground Station Two (DGS-2). On September 29, 1994, the Detachment was redesignated the 13th Intelligence Squadron and assigned responsibility for near-real-time imagery exploitation and all-source analysis of U-2 intelligence. DGS-2 used reach-back communications to give analysts the ability to work as if they were onboard the aircraft.

The 13 IS supported major operations in the Balkans, including NATO’s campaigns in Bosnia (Deliberate Force, 1995) and Kosovo (Joint Guardian, 1995–1999). Its outstanding performance earned the squadron the CIA’s National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation for 1996 and 1997. The squadron also aided the first combat use of a UAV for laser designation (Predator) and contributed to counter-drug and joint operations under DGS-2.

Decorations include the Presidential Unit Citation with two oak leaf clusters, the Meritorious Unit Award with one oak leaf cluster, the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Valor and eight oak leaf clusters, and the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm Unit Citation.