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16th Air Expeditionary Wing

Field	Value
unit_name	16th Air Expeditionary Wing
image	Two F-16s from Aviano Air Base, Italy, drop away from the boom after gassing up from a KC-135 Stratotanker.jpg
image_size	290
caption	Two F-16s from Aviano Air Base, Italy, after fueling from a KC-135 Stratotanker over the Adriatic Sea
dates	1997-2003
country	United States
branch
role	Control of deployed expeditionary units
command_structure	United States Air Forces in Europe
motto	We Clear the Skies
battles	Global War on Terrorism
identification_symbol	[[File:USAF - 16th Air Expeditionary Wing.png	175px]]
identification_symbol_label	Emblem used by the 16th Air Expeditionary Wing

The United States Air Force's 16th Air Expeditionary Wing (16 AEW) was a provisional Air Expeditionary unit of the United States Air Forces in Europe from 1997 for the purpose of supporting US no-fly zone and other operations in the Balkans. It remained active until June 2003, when it was replaced by the 401st Air Expeditionary Wing at Aviano.

Units

The wing headquarters was located at Aviano Air Base, Italy. It operated from expeditionary sites at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo; Camp Able Sentry, Macedonia; Sarajevo and Tuzla Air Base, Bosnia; Taszar Air Base, Hungary; Zagreb, Croatia and Naval Air Station Sigonella and San Vito Air Station, Italy; in addition to a contingency processing center at Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany.

History

On 1 July 1995, United States Air Forces Europe activated the 7490th Wing (Provisional) at Aviano Air Base, Italy to control units deployed temporarily on the base in connection with Operation Deny Flight. The wing was replaced on 11 March 1996 by the 4190th Wing (Provisional) when the United States Air Force (USAF) began numbering provisional units based on the theater exercising operational control, rather than the Major Command to which they were assigned. The 4190th wing participated in Operation Deny Flight and Operation Joint Endeavour.

On 1 June 1997 the 16th Air Expeditionary Wing replaced the 4190th as USAF replaced its provisional units with expeditionary units. Its initial mission was as a component of Operation Allied Force, which was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization response to Serbian aggression against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

In June 2003 the 401st Air Expeditionary Wing was activated at Aviano Air Base, Italy, replacing the 16th Air Expeditionary Wing, which inactivated to eliminate an overlap in designation with the 16th Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida.

Lineage

Designated as the 16th Air Expeditionary Wing, a provisional unit : Activated 1 June 1997 : Inactivated 12 June 2003

Assignments

United States Air Forces in Europe (attached to Sixteenth Air Force), 1 June 1997 – 12 June 2003

Components

16th Expeditionary Operations Group, Istres Air Base
401st Expeditionary Air Base Group, Tuzla Air Base
406th Expeditionary Air Base Group, Taszar Air Base
620th Expeditionary Air Base Group, Camp Able Sentry
2nd Expeditionary Air Support Operations Squadron, Camp Bondsteel
16th Expeditionary Air Support Operations Group, Sarajevo
16th Expeditionary Support Squadron, Rhein-Main Air Base
99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron, NAS Sigonella
775th Expeditionary Support Squadron, San Vito Air Station
525th Expeditionary Air Base Squadron, Zagreb

Stations

Aviano Air Base, 1 June 1997 – 12 June 2003

Weapons systems

Boeing KC-135E/R Stratotanker
General Atomics MQ-1A Predator UAV
Lockheed U-2R
General Dynamics F-16 Flying Falcon

References

Notes

Bibliography

References

(1983). "Air Force Combat Units of World War II". Office of Air Force History.
Butler, William M.. (2004). "Fifty Years on Nato's Southern Flank: a History of Sixteenth Air Force 1954-2004". Sixteenth Air Force Office of History.
[http://www.airforcehistoryindex.org/data/001/116/303.xml Abstract, History 7490 Wing (Provisional) Jul-Sep 1995] Retrieved 22 December 2013
[http://www.airforcehistoryindex.org/data/001/124/335.xml Abstract, History 31 Fighter Wing Jan-Jun 1996] Retrieved 22 December 2013
[http://www.airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/860/237.xml Abstract, Histories of 31 Fighter Wing, Aviano Air Base, 4190 Wing (Provisional) in collection of Operation Joint Endeavour documents] Retrieved 22 December 2013
US Air Forces in Europe News, [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2003/06/mil-030616-usafe01.htm Aviano AEW gets new designation, new commander] 6/16/2003
[https://www.af.mil/News/airman/0101/usafe/ Airman Magazine United States Air Forces Europe] Jan 2001

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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