An unmanned Air Force Predator aircraft practices touch and goes in this 2003 file photo. A new squadron of the aircraft that employ weapons will be operated remotely at Creech Air Force Base. Photo by John Gurzinski.

Armed Predator spy planes, in high demand by U.S. battlefield commanders for finding and killing terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, will be operated remotely later this year by a new squadron at Creech Air Force Base, a base spokesman said.

The 19th Attack Squadron will be composed of crews in ground stations who control Predators that employ weapons such as laser-guided Hellfire missiles.

This squadron of MQ-1 Predators and possibly later the new, bigger, faster, bomb-bearing B models, or MQ-9s, will be activated at Creech in the summer or fall, said 1st Lt. Justin McVay, a spokesman for Nellis Air Force Base operations at Creech.

Creech Air Force Base is Nellis' sister airfield at Indian Springs, 45 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

In addition, McVay this week acknowledged the existence of a Predator test squadron, the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron at the Tonopah Test Range, about 145 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Its operations are classified, he said.

The 30th, McVay said, was activated in a low-key ceremony in August.

Nellis officials through McVay confirmed the existence of the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron late Thursday after a presentation for the Civilian Military Council at the Nellis base.

During the presentation, an image containing a list of Predator units was shown that included the abbreviation, "30th RS."

The 30th Reconnaissance Squadron brings to five the number of active Predator squadrons at Creech. The count doesn't include the 757th Operations Support Squadron, which provides intelligence and weather information, or the 757th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, which maintains the pool of 46 Predators assigned to Nellis at Creech Air Force Base.

The other four Predator squadrons are:

•The 11th Reconnaissance Squadron, which is composed of instructor pilots, sensor operators and support personnel. The squadron trains air crews in intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

•The 15th Reconnaissance Squadron, which is made up of unarmed RQ-1s and some armed MQ-1 Predators for theater deployment to conduct long-endurance, real-time reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisitions in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

•The 17th Reconnaissance Squadron, which provides special capabilities for classified missions.

•The 3rd Special Operations Squadron, which was activated Oct. 28 under the command of Air Force Special Operations out of Hurlburt Field, Fla.

Nellis Predator operations at Creech fall under the 57th Wing, commanded by Brig. Gen. William Rew.

In an interview at Nellis last month, Gen. T. Michael Moseley, the Air Force chief of staff, raved about the capabilities of the Predator and why it's in such demand by commanders in war zones.

"Remember, we've hung air-to-air missiles on this thing and shot at Iraqi fighters," he said. "We've shot Hellfires off of it. We'll drop bombs off the MQ-9 or B models, all the while it's got lasers on it that you can spot for other things.

"It's got full motion video that you can transmit down to a ground party," said Moseley, noting how the Predator in the span of a decade has gone "from an airplane that we weren't real sure about" to one of if not the most sought after platforms in the global war on terrorism.

"We've got now a whole generation of pilots and sensor operators and maintainers (who) have had this airplane in combat solid from when we deployed it in the summer of '96 in the Balkans," he said. "What an amazing capability."

Predators can be launched at airfields, 7,000 miles away in Southwest Asia and controlled via satellite link through what's called "remote-split operations" in ground stations at Nellis or Creech.

McVay said plans call for consolidating remote, overseas operations in a permanent building at Creech, where some 2,000 military personnel are involved in Predator activities.