The Air Force is activating five squadrons to bolster its nuclear monitoring capabilities, the first time since 1980 that five squadrons will undertake the task, Gulf News reported on Thursday October 22.
The squadrons will likely be monitoring possible nuclear tests in North Korea and Iran. Both nations have built underground facilities for nuclear work, and North Korea has previously conducted underground detonations in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
The South Korean government has reported it believes North Korea is gearing up for a fourth test.
Five technical operations squadrons were initially launched in 1959 as the 1035th Field Activities Group to tackle specific portions of monitoring compliance with nuclear arms treaties. The squads were deactivated in 1980 when the unit was renamed the Air Force Technical Applications Center, service records show.
AFTAC, based at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, is “the sole organization in the federal government whose mission is to detect and report technical data from foreign nuclear explosions,” according to the center’s website.
Now the Air Force is re-launching and re-designating the five squadrons, a move started in August 2014 when AFTAC became a wing-equivalent part of the 25th Air Force.