The 548th Reconnaissance Units have a proud history dating back to the Second World War and its heritage continues today with the 548th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Group (ISRG), Beale AFB, California.
The unit was originally constituted on 20 November 1943, as the 6th Photographic Technical Squadron (PTS) and was activated on 1 December of that year at Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma, under the auspices of III Reconnaissance Command, United States Army Air Corp. In early 1945, the unit deployed to the Pacific Theater.
The unit was re-designated the 548th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron (RTS) on 7 January 1950. At the out break of the Korean War in June 1950, the 548th was stationed at Yokota Air Base (AB), Japan, with detachments at Clark AB, Republic of the Philippines and Kadena AB, Okinawa, United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands.
The unit continued their mission in support of PACAF until 3 July 1991 when the group was inactivated with the establishment of the Joint Intelligence Center Pacific (JICPAC), which consolidated the missions of the 548 RTG, Intelligence Center Pacific (IPAC), Camp H.M. Smith, and the Fleet Intelligence Center Pacific (FICPAC), Pearl Harbor.
On 1 August, 1992, the 548th Reconnaissance Technical Group was re-designated the 548th Air Intelligence Group. The 548th Air Intelligence Group was activated at Langley AFB, Virginia, on 27 August 1992. The group was inactivated on 1 October 1994.
On 23 October 2003, the 548th Air Intelligence Group was re-designated the 548th Intelligence Group. The 548th Intelligence Group was activated on 1 December 2003 at Beale AFB, California, as a part of the newly activated 480th Intelligence Wing, Langley AFB, Virginia. On 1 January 2009, it was renamed the 548th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Group (ISRG), under the 480th ISRW at Langley AFB.
The 548 ISRG operates $1-billion Distributed Ground Station-2 and Deployable Shelterized System-Film components of the Air Force Distributed Common Ground System. This includes exploitation and dissemination of near-real-time U-2, Global Hawk and Predator imagery and signals data to provide actionable, fused all-source intelligence to theater, joint/combined force and component commanders.