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.)
The Space Force team responsible for developing advanced battle management capabilities wants to create a better pipeline for mature space domain awareness tools to move from the lab into the hands of operators.
