Air Combat Command has activated the 42nd Attack Squadron at Creech AFB, Nev., whose mission is to operate the MQ-9 Reaper hunter-killer unmanned aerial vehicle. The Reaper can carry 15 times the amount of weapons than its smaller brother, the MQ-1 Predator. (Note: The Air Force news release says the 42nd AS is the service’s first “attack squadron,” which may be so since 1947, but the service’s antecedents had at least one, the 8th Attack Squadron, forerunner to today’s 8th Special Operations Squadron.)
Tennessee Guard to Receive Eight KC-46s
Nov. 20, 2025
The Air Force has tapped McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base as its preferred location for the next base to host KC-46 aerial refuelers, replacing the KC-135s that have been there since the 1970s.
