12th Fighter Squadron

12th Special Operations Squadron
12th Fighter Squadron F-15C Eagle and a Russian Tupolev Tu-95 Bear bomber
Active	since 15 January 1941
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Special operations
Part of	27th Special Operations Wing
Garrison/HQ	Cannon Air Force Base
Nickname(s)	Dirty Dozen
Motto(s)	"In Omnia Paratus" (Latin) "Ready for Anything"
Decorations	Distinguished Unit Citation Presidential Unit Citation (United States) Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat V device Presidential Unit Citation (Philippines) Presidential Unit Citation (Korea) Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm
Commanders
Current commander	Lt. Col. Josh Hartig
Insignia
12th Special Operations Squadron emblem (Approved 15 April 1957)

The 12th Special Operations Squadron is assigned to the 27th Special Operations Group at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico. Its mission is the launch and recovery of Remotely Piloted Aircraft from unprepared locations throughout the world. The squadron was activated in 2015 to replace a detachment that had been performing the same mission since October 2013.

The squadron was previously active at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska as the12th Fighter Squadron, part of the 3d Operations Group. The squadron operated the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle aircraft conducting air superiority missions.

The mission of the 12th is to launch and recover Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) operationally employed by the 2d, 3d and 33d Special Operations Squadrons. To avoid the inherent delay in transmitting commands through satellite communications to RPAs from distant stations, the squadron deploys to locations where it can operate the craft for takeoff and landing using line of sight signals. This minimizes risk during critical flight operations, while permitting mission operations to be performed from more remote secure locations.

The 12th Special Operations Squadron was first activated at Selfridge Field, Michigan as the 12th Pursuit Squadron, one of the original squadrons of the 50th Pursuit Group. in January 1941 when the United States expanded its military forces on the eve of World War II. After training with Seversky P-35s and Curtiss P-36 Hawks, the squadron moved with its parent 50th Pursuit Group to Key Field, Mississippi in October, where it began to equip with Curtiss P-40 Warhawks. It was located there when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 8.