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Air Force Special Ops gets Predators

  • Published
  • By Air Force Special Operations Command News Service
HURLBURT FIELD, FLA., --  The unblinking eye of the MQ-1 Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle now belongs to Air Force Special Operations Command. In a ceremony Thursday at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., a complete Predator capability transferred from Air Combat Command's 432 Wing to AFSOC's 1st Special Operations Wing, headquartered at Hurlburt Field, Fla..

AFSOC will gain 21 Predators, six ground control stations and four launch/recovery units. Seven additional aircraft currently in production will be delivered to AFSOC, completing the transfer.

Due to growing theater demands in Iraq and Afghanistan, United States Special Operations Command requested the Air Force accelerate special operations UAV capabilities. The Air Force accelerated this capability for USSOCOM two years ahead of the schedule outlined in the last Quadrennial Defense Review.

"We intend to transfer even more ACC assets to AFSOC to provide them a total of six UAV Combat Air Patrols," said General T. Michael Mosley, the Air Force chief of staff, in a letter to senior Defense Department leaders. 

The 3rd Special Operations Squadron, a unit of the 1st SOW, will continue operate the Predators. The Air Force will move ACC personnel from the 15th Reconnaissance Squadron to the 3rd SOS to help rapidly build a special operations UAV capability.