 | Parts of this article (those related to renaming of 544th ISR Group to SPACE DELTA 7) need to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2025) |
544th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1958 – 1992; 1992 – 2020; 2022 – present |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Role | Intelligence |
| Decorations | Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with"V" Device Air Force Outstanding Unit Award[1] |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander | Col Ronald Hopkins, USAF |
| Insignia | |
| 544th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group emblem[a][1] |  |
| 544th Intelligence Group emblem[b] |  |
The544th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group is aUnited States Air Force unit assigned to theAir Combat CommandSixteenth Air Force. It is stationed atBuckley Space Force Base, Colorado. It was reactivated under the70th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing on 26 September, 2022.
A multi-domain intelligence organization, the 544th is a team of approximately 400 Air Force members executing overhead technical signals and infrared intelligence with tradecraft development to achieve mission outcome success in all circumstances.[citation needed]
The 544th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group was initially activated as the 544th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron on 16 November 1950 atBolling Air Force Base. Initial personnel came from the 4203rd Photographic Technical Squadron. The 544th moved toOffutt Air Force Base, Nebraska in April 1952, although a small unit (Detachment 1) continued operation at Bolling. On 11 July 1958, the unit was redesignated the 544th Reconnaissance Technical Group. The 544th providedphoto interpretation during theCuban Missile Crisis (October 1962) for theNational Command Authority.
The next designation was as the 544th Aerospace Reconnaissance Technical Wing when it was redesignated on 1 January 1963. It was assigned directly toStrategic Air Command. In Vietnam, theBoeing RC-135C reconnaissance aircraft, equipped with the ASD-1 reconnaissance system, a number of programmableSIGINT receivers, created much of the 544th Wing's work, an activity known as 'Finder'.[2]
Personnel from the 544th Air Reconnaissance Technical Wing atOffutt AFB, then the highest-level strategic planning office in the U.S. Air Force, have corroborated reports that theIsraeli Defense Forces knew they were attacking an American ship during the 1967USSLiberty incident. Captain Steve Forslund, an intelligence analyst, recalled: "The ground control station stated that the target was American and for the aircraft to confirm it. The aircraft did confirm the identity of the target as American, by the American flag. The ground control station ordered the aircraft to attack and sink the target and ensure they left no survivors. [I remembered] the obvious frustration of the controller over the inability of the pilots to sink the target quickly and completely. He kept insisting the mission had to sink the target, and was frustrated with the pilots' responses that it didn't sink."[3][4] He wasn't the only member of his unit to have read the transcripts: "Everybody saw these." His recollections are supported by 2 other USAF intelligence specialists who were working in separate locations. One is James Ronald Gotcher, who was then serving with the Air Force Security Service's 6924th Security Squadron (an adjunct of theNational Security Agency atSon Tra in Vietnam): "It was clear that the Israeli aircraft were being vectored directly at USSLiberty. Later, around the timeLiberty got off a distress call, the controllers seemed to panic and urged the aircraft to 'complete the job' and get out of there."[4] Captain Richard Block, an Air Force intelligence officer inCrete who commanded more than 100 analysts and cryptologists monitoring Middle Eastern communications as part of the6931st Security Group, has also confirmed that radio transcripts proved the Israelis knew they were striking a U.S. ship:[5] "[The transcripts] were teletypes, way beyondTop Secret. Some of the pilots did not want to attack. The pilots said, 'This is an American ship. Do you still want us to attack?' And ground control came back and said, 'Yes, follow orders.'"[4] Gotcher and Forslund agreed with Block that a transcript published byThe Jerusalem Post was not the same one they saw. Gotcher noted, "There is simply no way that [thePost's transcript is] the same as what I saw. More to the point, for anyone familiar with air-to-ground [communications] procedures, that simply isn't the way pilots and controllers communicate."[4] Block observed that, "the fact that the Israeli pilots clearly identified the ship as American and asked for further instructions from ground control appears to be a missing part of thatJerusalem Post article."[4]
In 1979 the 544th was designated as aMajor Command Special Activity and on 15 October 1979, was redesignated the 544th Strategic Intelligence Wing. The 544th was redesignated the 544th Intelligence Wing on 1 September 1991, still at Offutt, and then inactivated on 1 June 1992.
On 7 September 1993, Colonel Eric Larson became the commander of the newly reactivated 544th Intelligence Group atPeterson Air Force Base, Colorado, part ofAir Force Intelligence Command. Colonel Maurizio Calabrese assumed command of the 544th on 27 June 2018.[6] In 2000, the 544th received one of its many Air Force Outstanding Unit Award. The award did not extend to the detachments' host commands such as the Naval Security Group Activities Sabana Seca and Sugar Grove. Their support in terms of infrastructure, technical equipment and facilities, allowed the detachments to accomplish their mission.[citation needed] Thegroup also provided support to Detachment 45 of theAir Force Technical Applications Center.[7] The group was inactivated on 24 July 2020 when it was replaced bySpace Delta 7 of theUnited States Space Force.[8]
On 26 September 2022, the group was reactivated as a part ofAir Combat Command with the headquarters atBuckley Space Force Base, Colorado under the command of Colonel Ronald Hopkins. Airmen at the 544th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group execute overhead technical signals intelligence and overhead persistent infrared operations. They partner with base agencies to produce integrated intelligence that is critical to the security of the United states. The group is composed of three squadrons (566th Intelligence Squadron,18th Intelligence Squadron,26th Intelligence Squadron), all located at Buckley Space Force Base, as well as one detachment in Australia.[citation needed]
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This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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