The 17th Electronic Warfare Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit, assigned to the 950th Spectrum Warfare Group at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, where it was activated on 1 August 2024.
The squadron was activated as the 17th Defense Systems Evaluation Squadron at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana in 1974, again replacing an existing unit. It tested and calibrated air defense radars until it was inactivated on 13 July 1979.
Mission
The squadron mission is to provide electromagnetic spectrum operations to support combat operations. It develops and applies electromagnetic spectrum operations based criteria to combatant commands through all phases of conflict, which include combat plans development, execution in near real-time, and post-mission analysis. It accomplishes this through the Electronic Warfare Assessment Center (EWAC) at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. The EWAC is an operations floor that incorporates intelligence and operational mission data from multiple networks to provide electromagnetic spectrum situational awareness from which assessments can be made and passed to the warfighter in near real-time.[2]
The squadron operated Culver PQ-8s and Culver PQ-14 Cadets, each of which could be flown as a manned aircraft, or as a drone aircraft, controlled by a Cessna UC-78 Bobcat mother ship.[e] Cadet missions were primarily flown to train AAA units. Pilots flying drones from the UC-78s were trained and qualified on the drone aircraft they would fly and on flights controlled by the mother ship, a safety pilot would be in the drone. Squadron pilots included members of the Womens Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs.[4]
Although the war against Japan continued, after V-E Day support and service units at Wheeler, like the 17th, began to experience a continuous loss in personnel.[6] After April 1946, the squadron flew very few missions as it prepared for inactivation.[7] The squadron was inactivated in February 1947 in the post war reduction of the United States military.[1]
In September 1954, Air Defense Command (ADC) organized the 4750th Tow Target Squadron at Vincent Air Force Base, Arizona to it fly aerial targets for the 4750th Air Defense Wing's mission of providing air-to-air gunnery training for pilots of interceptor aircraft assigned to ADC. In January 1955, this squadron was discontinued and its personnel and equipment were transferred to the 17th, which was activated in its place and assigned to the 4750th Air Defense Group.[1][8]
When the 450th Group was discontinued in 1958, the 17th was reassigned directly to the 4750th Air Defense Wing. It moved with the wing to MacDill Air Force Base, Florida in 1959, where it was inactivated in June 1960,[8] when ADC concentrated its fighter weapons training at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, where drone aircraft were used for air-to-air rocket training in ADC's more advanced aircraft.
Radar Evaluation
4677th DSES Patch
The 17th Defense Systems Evaluation Squadron assumed the radar evaluation function the 4677th Radar Evaluation Flight (ECM), which was organized at Hill AFB, Utah in 1954.[9] The peacetime mission of the flight was to provide electronic countermeasure (ECM) training and evaluation services to the aircraft control and warning squadrons assigned to Air Defense Command (ADC). The squadron also had a wartime mission to provide jamming support for attack aircraft.
In order to provide the necessary training, the flight was initially assigned TB-29 Superfortresses and some TB-25 Mitchells. The B-29s and B-25s carried an assortment of active and passive radar jamming devices to provide the ECM training. A Douglas C-47 was used as a support aircraft to ferry personnel and equipment. During the period that the 4677th operated these aircraft, they provided ADC radar squadrons with thousands of hours of ECM training. On 8 July 1958 ADC redesignated the unit as the 4677th Radar Evaluation Squadron, ECM.
By 1959 the World War II era aircraft were expensive to operate. The planes needed excessive amounts of maintenance to remain airworthy and were not supportable due to a lack of spare parts.[f]
The Martin B-57 Canberra, originally purchased as a medium bomber for tactical bombardment was being phased out of tactical operations in favor of the North American F-100 Super Sabre. Twelve of these aircraft were reassigned to the squadron. They were equipped with an assortment of ECM devices and redesignated as EB-57Es. These were used as faker target aircraft against Convair F-102 Delta Dagger and Convair F-106 Delta Dart interceptors. The squadron also participated in numerous training exercises such as Feudal Indian, Vigilant Overview, and Feudal Keynote.
The unit also worked in conjunction with the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) DC-20 Direction Center at Malmstrom. The SAGE building was built for $6 million in the late 1950s for the automation of air defense and direction of interceptors against unknown aircraft.[10] Recognizing that its mission now included the evaluation of automated defense systems, the unit was inactivated and replaced by the 4677th Defense Systems Evaluation Squadron in 1960. The squadron was twice awarded with AFOUAs for its performance of this mission.[1]
By 1974, ADC had inactivated the rest of its flying radar evaluation units and wanted to replace the 4677th, which was a Major Command controlled (MAJCON) unit with an Air Force controlled (AFCON) squadron, whose history could be continued if it were inactivated.[11] As a result, the 4677th was inactivated and the 17th Defense Systems Evaluation Squadron was activated in its place.[9] The connectivity between the units was shown when the 17th decided to retain the 4677th's patch, changing only the number in the scroll.
↑ Aircraft is Martin EB-57E Canberra, serial 55-4253. This aircraft was built as a B-57E and converted to EB-57E in the 1960s. It was transferred to the Military Storage and Disposition Center in July 1979 and is now on display at the Castle Air Museum. Dirkx, Marco (23 September 2025). "1955 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher’s Serial Number List. Retrieved 28 October 2025. Taken about 1975.
↑ The last USAF B-29 (a TB-29 radar evaluation aircraft, B-29-15-MO serial number 42-65234) was retired from the USAF inventory at 2010 hours on 21 June 1960, when Major Clarence C. Rarick of the 6023d Radar Evaluation Squadron landed at Naha Air Base, Okinawa, bringing the era of B-29 Superfortress military service to an end.[citation needed]
↑ MAJCON units could not carry a permanent history or lineage. Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). A Guide to Air Force Lineage and Honors (2d, Reviseded.). Maxwell AFB, AL: USAF Historical Research Center. p.12.
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