The 9th Reconnaissance Wing (9 RW) is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command Twelfth Air Force. It is stationed at Beale Air Force Base, California. The wing is also the host unit at Beale. Its mission is to organize, train and equip the Air Force's fleet of U-2R Dragonlady, RQ-4 Global Hawk, and MC-12 Liberty aircraft for peacetime intelligence gathering, contingency operations, conventional war fighting and Emergency War Order support. It is also assigned T-38 Talons for U-2 pilots to maintain flight hours due to limited U-2 aircraft. Its 9th Operations Group is a descendant organization of the 9th Group (Observation), one of the 13 original combat air groups formed by the Army before World War II. Following the end of American involvement in Vietnam, the 9th SRW turned to more peaceful accomplishments. The most spectacular of these were the SR-71 speed runs from New York to London and from London to Los Angeles. On 1 September 1974, Major James Sullivan and his RSO, Major Noel Widdefield, flew their SR-71 from New York to London in one hour, 55 minutes, 42 seconds, an average speed of 1,817 mph (2,924 km/h). A Royal Air Force F‑4M Phantom II had set the old record of four hours, 46 minutes in 1969. A few days later, on 13 September, Captain Harold "Buck" Adams, with Major William Machorek as RSO, established another record, flying the 5,465 miles (8,795 km) from London to Los Angeles in three hours, 48 minutes. The wing's assault on speed records continued in 1976. On 27 July, Major Adolphus Bledsoe, pilot, and Major John Fuller, RSO, flew the SR-71 over the 1,000-kilometer closed-course at 2,092 mph (3,367 km/h), beating the Soviet MiG-25 "Foxbat's" record of 1,853 mph (2,982 km/h) by more than 200 mph (320 km/h). The next day, Captain Eldon Joersz, with Major George T. Morgan as RSO, broke the YF-12A's record of 2,070 for the 15–25 kilometer straight course by flying 2,194 mph (3,531 km/h). Also, on 28 July, Captain Robert Helt and his RSO, Major Larry Elliot, broke the YF‑12A's altitude record for horizontal flight flying at a sustained altitude of 85,068.997 feet (25,929 m). On 1 July 1976, the 99th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron rejoined the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing as part of a realignment of SAC strategic reconnaissance units. The Lockheed U-2R-equipped 100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, one of the oldest SAC strategic reconnaissance wing, The 99th SRS was reactivated at U-Tapao RTAFB in Thailand OL-UA in November 1972 and there till 1976 under the 100th SRW, rejoined the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance wing again after they had inactivated at Beale AFB on 1 April 1971.( AF fact sheet) Also the 100th SRW became the 100th Air Refueling Wing. The 349th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron who's pilots flew the U-2 and 350th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron that flew C-130s(releasing) and CH-53(recovering) the flying AQM-34 Firebee drones in SEA became Air refueling Squadrons were activated under the 100th Air Refueling Wing. The consolidation smoothed the reconnaissance tasking and response process. The consolidation of the 9th and 100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wings provided SAC with the following composite organization: The U-2R, an improved version of the 1955 vintage U-2A, could spend more time "on-station" and cover longer distances without refueling than the SR-71. It was also less expensive to operate. The 9th SRW continued to evolve as the Air Force's first TR‑1 U-2 variant arrived at Beale AFB on 1 August 1981 and the first production model was assigned six weeks later. Later, the Air Force would drop the TR-1 designation and this aircraft series would also be called U-2s. The wing's most notable intelligence operation took place from August 1990 to March 1991 in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. In the largest U-2 deployment ever, the wing flew more than 800 missions over the Persian Gulf region. U‑2s tracked Iraqi troop and armor buildups, assessed bomb damage, and monitored a massive oil spill in the Persian Gulf. U-2 pilots even alerted the anti-missile network of inbound Scud missiles. When the ground war ended and most troops returned home, 9th Wing personnel and the U-2s remained in the region to help the United Nations verify Iraqi compliance with the terms of the cease‑fire agreement. The wing's KC-135Q tankers also contributed during the 1991 Gulf War. Carrying U-2 support people and equipment, the tankers allowed the wing to deploy immediately and begin flying reconnaissance missions over the region. During this initial deployment, the tankers escorted F-117A stealth fighters to the war zone, then served as the F-117's primary refuelers during the war. In the early 1990s the wing's personnel and aircraft provided reconnaissance coverage during the crises in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina. Later, wing U-2s verified compliance with the Dayton Peace Accords that ended the immediate crisis. Then, when Serbia began the "ethnic cleansing" of Albanians in Kosovo, NATO responded with the bombing campaign Operation Allied Force. During Operation Allied Force, 9th Reconnaissance Wing U-2s provided over 80% of the targeting intelligence for NATO forces. NATO leadership credited the U-2 with the destruction of 39 surface-to-air missile sites and 28 aircraft of the Serbian military. President Bill Clinton exercised his line-item veto power at the time, however, and eliminated the Congressionally approved $39 million allocated to the SR-71 program in the fiscal year (FY) 1998 budget. Detachment 2 immediately ceased operations. The United States Supreme Court later declared presidential line-item veto authority unconstitutional. The future of the SR-71 program remained uncertain. Congress did not include funding for the program in its FY 1999 budget. On 7 April 1998, Air Combat Command received a message from the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force ordering cessation of SR-71 operations and disposal of all related assets. The last member of Detachment 2 left Edwards AFB, CA on 10 January 1999. Upon transfer of the two remaining airframes to Air Force Materiel Command, Air Combat Command declared the SR-71 retirement complete as of 15 July 1999. Air Combat Command inactivated Detachment 2, 9th Operations Group, Edwards AFB, CA on 1 August 1999. The 9 RW is responsible for providing national and theater command authorities with timely, reliable, high-quality, high-altitude reconnaissance products.[when?] To accomplish this mission, the wing is equipped with the nation's fleet of U-2 and RQ-4 reconnaissance aircraft and associated support equipment. The wing also maintains a high state of readiness in its expeditionary combat support forces for potential deployment in response to theater contingencies. The wing is composed of more than 6,500 personnel in four groups at Beale and multiple overseas operating locations. The 9th Reconnaissance Wing is the "single-point manager" for the RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude reconnaissance fleet. On 11 October 2019, the wing was reassigned from the Twenty-Fifth Air Force to the newly re-activated Sixteenth Air Force, also known as Air Forces Cyber. The Sixteenth Air Force specialises in global intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, cyber, electronic warfare and information operations.

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