The 25th Attack Group began flying the first active-duty operated U.S. Air Forces in Europe MQ-9 Reaper sorties in Romania via remote-split operations as of Feb. 1, 2021. Until now, the 25th ATKG specialized in counter-terrorism missions in United States Central Command area of operations. They are now building capacity in the United States European Command AOR to support great power competition while maintaining a persistent presence in CENTCOM. The 25th ATKG is a unit under the command of the 432nd Air Expeditionary Wing. Both the wing and group are dedicated to providing dominant, persistent attack and reconnaissance on behalf of the nation and our coalition partners.
The Reaper weapon system is continuously evolving to nest within Air Force initiatives to operate in and from contested environments against near-peer adversaries. While in the EUCOM AOR, the aircraft will be employed to conduct persistent reconnaissance with a sophisticated suite of capabilities across varying employment strategies. The 25th ATKG began preparation for EUCOM support more than a year ago. The unit reset and readied its squadrons by providing a dedicated training opportunity for the aircrew. Prior to this reconstitution, every squadron shared in continuous operations and was unable to take time to train for advanced mission sets and respond to emerging threats.
“This is an exciting moment where we can showcase the value of the MQ-9 across the globe, not just in the Middle East,” said Col. Timothy Monroe, the 25th ATKG commander. “We can demonstrate to our NATO allies and coalition partners that, when our Airmen are given the most difficult tasks, we rise to the occasion and bring the best of who we are to every mission that we accomplish.”
“Standing up active duty Reaper combat lines in the European theater is a significant milestone for the RPA community,” said Col Stephen Jones, the 432nd Wing/432nd Air Expeditionary Wing commander. “We intend to move to evolve our weapon system to survive and provide critical capabilities in contested environments. The support from our partners in Europe has been outstanding, and we are proud of achieving operational capability ahead of schedule.”
Reconstitution not only allowed time to develop new tactics for MQ-9 missions in the European theater; it has also advanced new relationships with partners and allies who are vital to maintaining our strategic edge on competitors. The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the United States Air Force (USAF). The MQ-9 and other UAVs are referred to as Remotely Piloted Vehicles/Aircraft (RPV/RPA) by the USAF to indicate their human ground controllers. The MQ-9 is the first hunter-killer UAV designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance.
