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9th Combat Operations Squadron
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The United States Air Force's 9th Combat Operations Squadron is an Air Force Reserve Command space operations unit located at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The 9th augments the 614th Air and Space Operations Center in operating the Joint Space Operations Center, performing combat operations, plans, strategy and intelligence assessments that enable the Commander, Joint Functional Component Command for Space to command and control space forces by providing worldwide space effects and theater support to combatant commanders.
9th Combat Operations Squadron
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![]() An RF-4 Phantom II from Bergstrom AFB flies by Hohenzollern Castle. Germany circa 1976[lower-alpha 1] | |
Active | 1943–1945; 1946–1947; 1953–1971; 1999–present |
Country | ![]() |
Branch | ![]() |
Role | Space operations |
Part of | Air Force Reserve Command |
Garrison/HQ | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California |
Nickname(s) | Blackhawks[citation needed] |
Motto(s) | Semper Summatum (Latin for 'Always the Highest') |
Engagements | European Theater of Operations |
Decorations | Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Air Force Organizational Excellence Award |
Insignia | |
9th Combat Operations Squadron emblem[lower-alpha 2][1] | ![]() |
9th Reconnaissance Squadron emblem[lower-alpha 3][2] | ![]() |
The squadron was first activated in 1943 as the 761st Bombardment Squadron. After training in the United States, it deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, and it earned a Distinguished Unit Citation for its actions. Following V-E Day, the squadron moved to Brazil, where it became part of Air Transport Command, returning troops to the United States before it was inactivated on 26 September 1945.
The squadron was redesignated the 9th Reconnaissance Squadron and reactivated in the Far East in 1946. For the next two years, it performed mapping and reconnaissance missions, until it transferred its assets to another unit and was inactivated. It was activated again in 1953 as the 9th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, and in 1956, became the first squadron to fly the Douglas RB-66 Destroyer. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the squadron flew photographic reconnaissance missions. It deployed equipment and personnel to Southeast Asia, although it remained in the United States as a training unit until inactivating in 1971.
The squadron was activated in the reserve in 1999 as the 9th Space Operations Squadron.