Nellis AFB 26th WPS MQ-9 Reaper

Nellis AFB 26th WPS MQ-9 Reaper poster art.

The 26th Weapons Squadron (26th WPS) is a United States Air Force unit, assigned to the USAF Weapons School at Nellis AFB, Nevada. The 26th WPS is the first Unmanned Aircraft Systems Weapons Squadron, and specialize in training and producing MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper pilots and sensor operators. Missions for the 26th Weapons Squadron are flown from Nellis Air Force Base, as opposed to Creech Air Force Base, where most UAS operations are currently underway.

Nellis Air Force Base (“Nellis” colloq.) is a United States Air Force installation in southern Nevada with military schools and more squadrons than any other USAF base. Nellis hosts air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exercises such as Green Flag-West flown in “Military Operations Area (MOA) airspace” and is associated with the nearby Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR). The base also has the Combined Air and Space Operations Center-Nellis.

The MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remote 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.