INDIAN SPRINGS -- The activation ceremony for the 432nd Maintenance Squadron is scheduled for 10 a.m. today at Creech Air Force Base.

The 432nd will be part of the 432nd Maintenance Group of the 432nd Wing.

Lt. Col. Matt Wynn will assume command of the newly activated squadron the same day. Wynn comes to Creech AFB from Dover AFB in Delaware, where he was the operations officer for the 436th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.

The mission the 432nd will perform will involve on- and off-equipment maintenance and maintenance operations services for MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper aircraft and ground control stations in support of air-crew training and the war on terrorism.

Expertise is provided in nine Air Force specialties, including education and training, maintenance analysis, scheduling, aerospace ground equipment, field systems, aircraft structural maintenance, nondestructive inspections, engines and munitions systems.

The 432nd was originally activated Feb. 8, 1958, as the 432nd Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina under the then-432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing.

With a proud history that stretches back over four decades, the the 432nd participated in 14 campaigns during the Vietnam War while stationed at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, during the 1960s and 1970s.

The squadron was de-activated Oct. 1, 1994, at Misawa Air Force Base in Japan.

It is the nation's first unmanned aircraft systems wing and is equipped overall with more than 100 Predators and Reaper unmanned aircraft.

The wing trains pilots, sensor operators and other crew members and conducts surveillance and attack operations worldwide.