Space units provide impact during OIF

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SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFPN) --  During Operation Iraqi Freedom, thousands of Air Force reservists helped drop bombs on the enemy, deliver supplies and fuel to coalition forces, and rescue stranded or besieged troops on the ground.

Many of these reservists worked behind the scenes, including several hundred Air Force Reserve Command warfighters who used equipment well above the clouds to provide precision targeting, early missile detection and accurate weather reporting.

"We still have about 50 mobilized reservists, as well as a hundred full-time Active Guard and Reserve members," said Col. Roscoe Griffin, commander of AFRC's 310th Space Group here. "We also had several of our traditional reservists volunteer to come in on man-days to support the war effort."

Most of the group's units are based here, including the 19th Space Operations Squadron, which used Global Positioning System satellites to direct precision targeting over Iraq. GPS is a constellation of orbiting satellites, which provides navigation data to military and civilian users all over the world.

Members of the group's 6th SOPS here used Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellites to collect critical weather data to aid military operations. DMSP satellites provide continuous visual and infrared imagery of cloud cover over a swath 1,600 nautical miles wide. Additional satellite sensors measure atmospheric moisture and temperature.

The group's 7th SOPS here and its 8th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force Base, Colo., provided tactical missile warning during the war. The 7th SOPS flies Defense Support Program satellites that use an infrared sensor to detect heat from missile and booster plumes against the earth's background. The 8th SWS operates the Space Based Infrared System, an evolution of the DSP satellite system.

"Our 14th Test Squadron and Aggressor unit (both at Schriever) performed numerous classified OIF activities in addition to our 9th Space Operations Squadron (at Vandenberg AFB, Calif.) assisting the active duty with command and control of all space assets," Griffin said.