Military Installations
AIR FORCE BASES in the UNITED STATES
Featured Article
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Today's relatively smaller Air Force has seen increased participation in contingency operations. In addition to maintaining units in the Persian Gulf area (Southern Watch) and Turkey (Provide Comfort), the Air Force has supported humanitarian and peacekeeping operations in places like Somalia (Restore Hope), Rwanda (Support Hope), Haiti (Uphold Democracy) and the Balkans (Provide Promise and Deny Flight).
Military Installations:
Alabama
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Maxwell-Gunter AFB
Maxwell AFB is the headquarters of Air University. AU is a major component of Air Education and Training Command and is located in Montgomery, Alabama.
Alaska
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Eielson AFB
This installation in Fairbanks, Alaska is home to the 354th Fighter Wing, assigned to the 11th Air Force in the major command of the Pacific Air Forces.
Elmendorf AFB
Adjacent to Anchorage, Alaska, Elmendorf AFB supports and defends U.S. interests in the Asia Pacific region and around the world. Elmendorf's host unit is the 3d Wing.
Arizona
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Davis-Monthan AFB
Davis-Monthan's primary operational mission is to train A-10 and OA-10 pilots and to provide A-10 and OA-10 close air support and forward air control to U.S. ground forces worldwide.
Luke AFB
Luke AFB is a major training base of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC), training pilots in the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
Arkansas
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Little Rock AFB
Little Rock is the only C-130 training base for the DoD, training C-130 pilots, navigators, flight engineers, and loadmasters from all branches of the military in tactical airlift and aerial delivery.
California
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Beale AFB
The 9th Reconnaissance Wing is responsible for providing national and theater command authorities with timely, reliable, high-quality, high-altitude reconnaissance products. The wing is equipped with the nation's fleet of U-2 and RQ-4 reconnaissance aircraft and associated support equipment.
Edwards AFB
Designated as the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC), Edwards is home to the 412th Test Wing, the United States Air Force Test Pilot School, and NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center.
Los Angeles AFB
Los Angeles Air Force Base houses and supports the headquarters of the Air Force Space Command's Space and Missile Systems Center. The center manages research, development and acquisition of military space systems.
Travis AFB
Situated in the San Francisco Bay Area and known as the "Gateway to the Pacific", Travis Air Force Base handles more cargo and passenger traffic through its airport than any other military air terminal in the United States.
Vandenberg AFB
Vandenberg's location on the northern Pacific Ocean makes it possible to easily launch satellites into polar orbit, unlike the Kennedy Space Center. This, along with its location relative to the jet stream, makes Vandenberg a good site to launch reconnaissance satellites.
Colorado
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Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of commissioned officers for the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of Colorado Springs.
Buckley AFB
In October 2000, the Buckley Air National Guard base was transferred to U.S. Air Force control, and it was renamed the Buckley Air Force Base.
Petersen AFB
Peterson AFB is home to the United States Northern Command, NORAD, Air Force Space Command, AFSPC's 21st Space Wing, Army Space Command, and the Air Force Reserve Command's 302d Airlift Wing.
Schriever AFB
The base is home to Air Force Space Command's 50th Space Wing, which provides command and control for more than 170 DoD warning, navigational, and communications satellites.
Delaware
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Dover AFB
Dover AFB is the home for the DoD's largest military mortuary and has been used for processing military personnel killed in both war and peacetime.
District of Columbia
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Bolling AFB
Bolling AFB has served as a research and testing ground for new aviation equipment and its first mission provided aerial defense of the capital. It moved to its present location, along the Potomac in the city's southwest quadrant, in the 1930s.
Florida
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Elgin AFB
Eglin AFB was established in 1935 as the Valparaiso Bombing and Gunnery Base. It is named in honor of Lieutenant Colonel Fredrick I. Eglin, who was killed in a crash of his Northrop A-17 pursuit aircraft on a flight from Langley to Maxwell Field, Alabama.
Hurlburt AFB
Hurlburt Field was originally designated as Auxiliary Field No. 9, one of the original small pilot and gunnery training fields built on the Eglin Air Force Base complex in the 1940s.
MacDill AFB
Now an operational base, MacDill has about 6,000 airmen and civilians on 5,000 acres, located on the Southwestern tip of the Interbay Peninsula on the west coast of Florida.
Patrick AFB
Patrick AFB is home to the 45th Space Wing, whose Officers and Airmen manage all launches of unmanned rockets at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Tyndall AFB
The base operating unit and host wing is the 325th Fighter Wing of the Air Education and Training Command. Tyndall Field was opened on 13 January 1941 as a gunnery range.
Georgia
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Moody AFB
Moody AFB is the home of the 23d Wing (23 WG) of the Air Combat Command (ACC). The mission of the 23d Wing is to organize, train and employ combat-ready A-10, HC-130P/N Combat King and HH-60 Pave Hawk, as well as pararescuemen and force protection assets.
Robins AFB
Robins AFB is the home of the Air Force Materiel Command's Warner Robins Air Logistics Center which is the worldwide manager for a wide range of aircraft, engines, missiles, software and avionics and accessories components. The host unit at Robins AFB is the 78th Air Base Wing.
Hawaii
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Hickam AFB
Hickam is located in Honolulu and consists of nearly 3,000 acres of land adjacent to Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu. It has been recognized as a national historic monument. Battle-scarred walls from the Pearl Harbor invasion are still visible.
Idaho
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Mountain Home AFB
This base is situated about 50 miles southeast of Boise on a high-desert plateau between two large mountain ranges. Among the base's missions is to prepare for expeditionary operations and to combine technology and innovation to maximize combat potency.
Illinois
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Scott AFB
The primary mission of Scott Air Force Base is global mobility. The base commands and controls all logistics of United States military in air, over land and across the sea.
Kansas
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McConnell AFB
MThe base was named in honor of Wichita brothers Fred and Thomas McConnell, both Air Force pilots and World War II veterans. It is the home of the Air Mobility Command's 22d Air Refueling Wing, the Air Force Reserve Command's 931st Air Refueling Group, and the Kansas Air National Guard's 184th Intelligence Wing.
Louisiana
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Barksdale AFB
Barksdale has proudly served the Ark-La-Tex ( Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas ) for more than 68 years. As a key Air Combat Command base, Barksdale has a pivotal role in providing a large part of the nation's deterrent force.
Maryland
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Andrews AFB
Andrews is widely known for serving as the home base of operations for the aircraft that serves the President of the United States, Air Force One. The host unit at Andrews is the 316th Wing, assigned to the Air Force District of Washington.
Massachusetts
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Hanscom AFB
Hanscom AFB serves primarily as the Headquarters of the U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center. ESC, which also operates at other sites throughout the country, manages the development and acquisition of electronic command and control systems.
Mississippi
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Columbus AFB
Columbus AFB has been training Air Force pilots since World War II, and that mission continues today. The base closed after the war and remained inactive until 1951 when it was reopened as a contract flying school to train pilots during the Korean War.
Keesler AFB
The base is home of Headquarters, Second Air Force and the 81st Training Wing of the Air Education and Training Command. Other groups assigned to Keesler AFB include the 45th Airlift Squadron, which provides training in the C-21 Learjet.
Montana
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Malmstrom AFB
Malmstrom AFB is one of three US Air Force Bases that maintains and operates the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile.
Nevada
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Creech AFB
Along with being the aerial demonstration training site for the Thunderbirds, the base plays a major role in the ongoing War on Terror.
Nellis AFB
An installation of the Air Combat Command, Nellis is the location of the United States Air Force Warfare Center and is a major training location for both U.S. and foreign military aircrews.
New Jersey
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McGuire AFB
McGuire is home to the 87th Air Base Wing, 305th Air Mobility Wing and the Air Force Reserve Command's 514th Air Mobility Wing.
New Mexico
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Cannon AFB
The BRAC commission recommended that Cannon Air Force Base be closed. However, on 25 August 2005, it overturned the recommendation, but upheld the withdrawal of the base's F-16 fighter aircraft.
Holloman AFB
The 49th Fighter Wing is the host unit at Holloman Air Force Base, supporting national security objectives with mission-ready F-22 Raptors, Air Transportable Medical Clinic and Bare Base assets.
Kirtland AFB
Kirtland is the home of the Air Force Materiel Command's Nuclear Weapons Center, the center of expertise for nuclear weapon systems, ensuring safe, secure and reliable nuclear weapons are available to support the National Command Structure and Air Force.
North Carolina
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Pope AFB
USAF missions at Pope AFB range from providing airlift and close air support to American armed forces, to humanitarian missions flown all over the world.
Seymour Johnson AFB
The base occupies over 3,300 acres in the southeast section of Goldsboro. Interestingly, the namesake of the base, Seymour Johnson, was never part of the Air Force. He was a local man who became a Navy test pilot and died in a plane crash in 1940.
North Dakota
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Grand Forks AFB
Due to the continuance of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the 1950s, Grand Forks AFB was originally built as an Air Defense Command fighter-interceptor air base.
Minot AFB
Originally opened in 1957 as an Air Defense Command base, it became a major Strategic Air Command base in the early 1960s, with both nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles and manned bombers and aerial refueling aircraft.
Ohio
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Wright-Patterson AFB
This is one of the largest, most diverse, and organizationally complex bases in the Air Force. It is also the headquarters of the Air Force Materiel Command, one of the major commands of the Air Force.
Oklahoma
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Altus AFB
Set in the cotton fields of southwestern Oklahoma, Altus Air Force Base first became home to military aircraft and personnel in 1943.
Tinker AFB
The base has more than 26,000 military and civilian employees and is the largest single-site employer in the state of Oklahoma.
Vance AFB
The host unit it the 71st Flying Training Wing which aims to train world-class pilots for the United States Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and its Allies.
South Carolina
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Charleston AFB
It is home to the 437th Airlift Wing, the host wing for the installation, operating the C-17 Globemaster III strategic airlift aircraft.
Shaw AFB
The base is host to the 20th Fighter Wing. Its goal is to provide, project, and sustain combat-ready air forces. It is the Air Force's largest combat F-16 wing.
South Dakota
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Ellsworth AFB
The base is named in memory of Brig Gen Richard E. Ellsworth, commander of the 28th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, who lost his life in the crash of an RB-36 in March 1953.
Tennessee
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Arnold AFB
The base is home to the Arnold Engineering Development Center, the most advanced and largest complex of flight simulation test facilities in the world.
Texas
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Dyess AFB
The host unit at Dyess is the 7th Bomb Wing of the Air Combat Command, which was activated on October 1, 1993. It is also an emergency landing site for the NASA Space Shuttle orbiter.
Goodfellow AFB
Goodfellow's main mission is cryptologic and intelligence training for the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps.
Lackland AFB
Lackland AFB is the only entry processing station for Air Force enlisted Basic Military Training. It shared this status temporarily with Amarillo Air Force Base during the Vietnam War until Amarillo AFB's closure in 1968.
Laughlin AFB
This base is close to the border of the United States and Mexico. On weekdays, the airfield sees more takeoffs and landings than any other airport in the country.
Randolph AFB
The idea for Randolph began soon after passage in the United States Congress of the Air Corps Act of 1926, which changed the name of the Army Air Service to the Army Air Corps.
Sheppard AFB
Sheppard AFB has been providing top-notch instruction in a diverse array of Air Force specialties for more than half a century. It was established as Sheppard Field on 300 acres just south of Kell Field.
Utah
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Hill AFB
Hill Air Force Base traces its origins back to the ill-fated U.S. Army's Air Mail "experiment" of 1934, when the idea originated for a permanent air depot in the Salt Lake City area.
Virginia
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Langley AFB
Langley Air Force Base was the first military base built in the United States specifically for air power, having been acquired by the fledgling Aviation Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps in December 1916.
Washington
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Fairchild AFB
Fairchild is home to a wide variety of units and missions. Most prominent is its air refueling mission, with two wings, one active, the 92d Air Refueling Wing, and one Air National Guard, the 141st Air Refueling Wing, both flying the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker.
McChord AFB
McChord is home to a wide variety of units and missions. The 62nd Airlift Wing is the active duty host wing on McChord. The 62nd Airlift Wing is joined by its Reserve partner the 446th Airlift Wing. Together, the two wings fly 50 C-17 Globemaster IIIs to provide combat airlift for America.
Wyoming
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F.E. Warren AFB
Even though this installation became an Air Force base in 1947, the only conventional airfield ever located at F. E. Warren AFB was a single dirt strip. This field, never used by modern day pilots, was made famous by World War I ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker who crashed his plane on the field and survived.
