The United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

's 48th Intelligence Squadron (48 IS) is an intelligence unit located at Beale AFB, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. The 48 IS is associated with U-2

Lockheed U-2

The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is a single-engine, very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency . It provides day and night, very high-altitude , all-weather intelligence gathering...

 operations.

Mission

The 48 IS provides in-garrison and deployed communications and logistics maintenance for the DGS-2 and Deployable Shelterized System-Film (DSS-F) elements of the AN/GSQ-272 SENTINEL (also known as Distributed Common Ground System

Distributed Common Ground System

The Distributed Common Ground System, officially known as the AN/GSQ-272 Sentinel is a weapons system which produces intelligence for both the United States Army and United States Air Force...

, or DCGS). The unit also ensures multisource intelligence from U-2, Predator, Reaper

MQ-9 Reaper

The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial vehicle , capable of remote controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems for use by the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, the CIA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Royal...

, and Global Hawk

RQ-4 Global Hawk

The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk is an unmanned aerial vehicle used by the United States Air Force and Navy as a surveillance aircraft....

aircraft is exploited in real-time and sent to combatant commanders and warfighting forces.