16th Electronic Warfare Squadron The 16th Electronic Warfare Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit . It is assigned to the 53d Electronic Warfare Group at Eglin Air Force Base , Florida . It was formed in 1985 by the consolidation of three units . The 16th Aero Squadron , a World War I squadron that provided maintenance support for aeronautical units on the Western Front . The 16th Reconnaissance Squadron , which served during the years between the World Wars as an observation squadron , with its flight s located with various Army schools . During World War II , the squadron served in the Mediterranean , where it was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for its performance from October 1943 to January 1944 . The 16th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron , which served as a long range photographic unit during the early years of the Cold War . Mission . The 16th Electronic Warfare Squadron ( EWS ) provides electronic warfare test facilities for mission data and electronic warfare systems test and evaluation . Its personnel assess the maintainability , reliability , suitability , and readiness of electronic warfare systems and support equipment , and perform test and evaluation of new concepts for electronic warfare systems . They also monitor developmental testing conducted by acquisition agencies . The 16th EWS develops , fabricates and maintains test instrumentation and performs acceptance tests of all new electronic warfare related hardware and software and supports training for maintenance and operational units worldwide . The squadron also provides technicians and equipment to execute the COMBAT SHIELD Electronic Warfare Assessment Program . The 16th EWS has more than $ 450 million in assets , including eight system integration laboratories and five mobile test facilities . Detachment 1 of the 16 EWS is located at Tyndall AFB , Florida and provides maintenance support for adversary electronic attack training pods used for air - to - air electronic warfare training . These pods are repaired and modified at Tyndall AFB and shipped to fighter units worldwide . Det 1 , 16 EWS also maintains electronic attack payloads for full - scale and subscale drones in support of live - fire missile testing under the COMBAT ARCHER Weapon System Evaluation Program . History . The squadron was originally established as an Air Service flying training unit in May 1917 , conducting flying training for air cadets in the Midwest throughout the summer . It deployed to France in January 1918 , becoming an aircraft maintenance organization in rear areas of the Western Front . It remained in France until May 1919 when squadron returned to the United States and demobilized . The 16th Squadron was established in 1921 as an observation squadron , attached to Army ground units throughout the 1920s and 1930s . It was consolidated with its predecessor in 1924 . The 16th carried mail and performed fire observation duties , included carrying mail to President Calvin Coolidge vacationing in South Dakota and Wisconsin in August and September 1927 , and June to September 1928 . After the Attack on Pearl Harbor the squadron was reassigned to antisubmarine duties along the southeast coast in late 1941 , early 1942 . It deployed to the European Theater of Operations , where it was attached to the Royal Air Force reconnaissance school at RAF Wattisham , England in late 1942 . While in England , the air echelon received modern Lockheed P - 38 long - range photo - reconnaissance aircraft and joined the ground personnel in French Morocco shortly after the Operation Torch invasion in November 1942 . The squadron was assigned to Twelfth Air Force and engaged in long range intelligence gathering and aerial mapping of Algeria and Tunisia , supporting the United States Fifth Army during the North African and Tunisian Campaigns . After the retreat of Axis forces from Tunisia in mid - 1942 , performed antisubmarine patrols over the Mediterranean Sea and also functioned as in in - theater training unit for aerial reconnaissance pilots . Beginning in September 1943 , the squadron received specially - equipped B - 17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers equipped with radar detection and electronic countermeasure s ( ECM ) equipment . It performed ECM overflights of enemy territory in advance of Fifteenth Air Force heavy bomber formations , jamming enemy Radar and generating false returns to confuse defensive forces . It also continued to fly long range reconnaissance with B - 25 Mitchell medium bombers fitted with aerial cameras . . The Squadron returned to the United States in November 1944 as the need for the unit dissipated as enemy forces were driven out of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations . It was inactivated in April 1945 . The 16th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron served with Strategic Air Command as a long - range reconnaissance unit early in the Cold War . Its mission was absorbed by the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing in 1949 . In 1985 , it was consolidated with its predecessors , but remained inactive until 1993 , when it assumed its present mission . Lineage . 16th Aero Squadron 16th Reconnaissance Squadron 16th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron 16th Electronic Warfare Squadron