The 6th Space Warning Squadron is located at

Cape Cod Space Force Station Cape Cod Space Force Station is a United States Space Force station located in the northwest corner of Joint Base Cape Cod, United States, on Flatrock Hill in Bourne, Massachusetts. Cape Cod Space Force Station began construction in 1976 as Cape ...

, in Sagamore, Massachusetts, United States. It operates the

PAVE PAWS PAVE PAWS (PAVE Phased Array Warning System) is a complex Cold War early warning radar and computer system developed in 1980 to "detect and characterize a sea-launched ballistic missile attack against the United States". The first solid-state ...

radar to watch for missiles launched toward North America. The squadron is assigned to

Space Delta 4 Mission Delta 4 (MD4) is a United States Space Force unit responsible for providing strategic and theater missile warning and tracking to the United States and its international partners. It operates three constellations of Overhead Persistent I ...

. The squadron was first organized in October 1979 as the 6th Missile Warning Squadron

Mission

The mission of the 6th SWS is to observe

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

coasts for incoming sea–launched or intercontinental ballistic missiles using the

radar system. Also, the 6th is to determine the potential threat of the numbers and destination of incoming missiles; then report continuous information to the

North American Aerospace Defense Command North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ; , CDAAN), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a Combined operations, combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air ...

Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station (CMSFS) is located in Cheyenne Mountain on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado, next to Colorado Springs, The Cheyenne Mountain Complex, an underground facili ...

, and NORTHCOM.

History

The 6th Space Warning Squadron was founded at Cape Cod Missile Early Warning Station in August 1977. It was the first squadron in the country to be equipped with

. PAVE PAWS also generates information on the location and velocity of earth-orbiting satellites to NORAD. The squadron also had a detachment at North Truro Air Force Station from 1977 to 1985, when the station closed and operations at the accompanying radar dome were taken over by the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

. The 2165th Communications Squadron was a separate tenant at CCAFS until 1986 when it was merged with the 6th SWS.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 6th Missile Warning Squadron : Activated on 1 October 1979 : Redesignated 6th Space Warning Squadron on 15 May 1992

Assignments

21st Air Division The 21st Air Division (21st AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Tactical Air Command, being stationed at Griffiss Air Force Base, New York. It was inactivated on 23 September 1983. History World ...

, 1 October 1979 *

Aerospace Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for air defense of the continental United States. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was establishe ...

1 October 1979 * 45th Air Division, 1 December 1979 *

1st Space Wing The 1st Space Wing was a wing of the United States Air Force active from 1983 to 1992 at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado as part of Air Force Space Command. The Wing was constituted on 18 Oct 1982 and activated on 1 January 1983 with assignm ...

, 1 May 1983 *

21st Operations Group Mission Delta 2 (MD2) is the United States Space Force's space domain awareness Space Delta, delta, headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado. Mission Delta 2 tracks and monitors all human made objects from low Earth orbit to geosync ...

, 15 May 1992 – present

Stations

, Massachusetts, 1 October 1979 – present

Awards and decorations

Air Force Outstanding Unit Award The Air and Space Outstanding Unit Award (ASOUA) is one of the unit awards of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. It was established in 1954 as the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award and was the first independent Air Force ...

**1 January 1998 – 31 December 1998 **1 October 1997 – 30 September 1999 **1 October 1995 – 30 September 1997 **2014 * 2004 Partridge Slemon Award as North American Aerospace Defense Command's most outstanding unit for its support of the common defense and partnership in protecting the U.S. and Canadian homelands

List of commanders

*Col Judson 1989 *Col 1990-1993 *Col Richard Cable *Col Mario V. Mascola *Col William R. Smith *Lt Col Craig Z. Lowry, 29 June 1995 – ??? *Lt Col Paul Hamilton *Lt Col Christopher R. Gentry *Lt Col J. Arnett *Lt Col C. Lowery *Lt Col Robert Keyser *Lt Col James C Hutto Jr 1999-2001 *Lt Col Jeffrey C. Wilson 2001-2003 *Lt Col

Nina Armagno Nina Marion Armagno (born March 20, 1966) is a retired United States Space Force Lieutenant general (United States), lieutenant general who served as the first director of staff of the United States Space Force from 2020 to 2023. She is the ser ...

, June 2003 – December 2004 *Lt Col Paul S. Hamilton, 14 December 2004 – 10 August 2006 *Lt Col Max E. Lantz II, June 2008 – June 2010 *Lt Col Walt Jackim, ??? – 27 June 2014 *Lt Col David Anderson, 27 June 2014 – ??? *Lt Col Nathan J. Hippe, ??? – 28 June 2018 *Lt Col James E. Roberts, 28 June 2018 – 23 June 2020 *Lt Col Timothy “Vax” Sheehan, 23 June 2020 – June 2022 *Lt Col Stewart C. Smith, June 2022 – 12 June 2024 *Lt Col Bryan Becker, 12 June 2024 – present

References

External links

6th Space Warning Squadron
{{USAF Space Command Squadrons of the United States Space Force Military units and formations in Massachusetts Military units and formations established in 1992