The 168th Wing is a unit of the Alaska Air National Guard, stationed at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. Before it was redesignated in February 2016, it was known as the 168th Air Refueling Wing (168 ARW).[1] If activated to federal service as a USAF unit, the 168 WG is primarily gained by Pacific Air Forces, while its 213th Space Warning Squadron is gained by Air Force Space Command.
The 168th Wing provides combined operations of air refueling, missile warning, and space surveillance. The unit supports for Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Northern Command, Air Force Space Command and the Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region. Besides its federally directed missions, as a unit of the Alaska National Guard, the 168th Wing is an asset of the Governor of Alaska, who can direct the unit to respond to emergencies declared or missions required within the state.[2] The wing is the only Arctic region air refueling unit in the United States. The unit transfers more fuel than any other Air National Guard tanker wing, because nearly all receivers are active duty aircraft, many of which are on operational missions.
Since 1950, the Air National Guard had been organized into wings, self-sustaining organizations, made up of functional groups. Because it was not practical to put an entire wing on a single installation for day to day operations, wing squadrons were located on bases as “augmented squadrons” containing support elements needed to sustain operations. By the law at the time Guardsmen could only be activated as members of a mobilized unit. This meant that, even when only operational and maintenance elements were needed for mobilization, the entire “augmented squadron” had to be called to active duty, including unneeded administrative personnel. The response was to replace the “augmented squadron” with a group including functional squadrons that could be mobilized as a group, or individually.[3]
In 1964, the 140th Air Transport Squadron at Olmsted Air Force Base was reorganized to form the 168th Air Transport Group. In addition to the 140th, units assigned into the group were the 168th Material Squadron, 168th Support Squadron, and the 168th USAF Dispensary. The group operated the Lockheed C-121 Constellation. In January 1966 the group became the 168th Military Airlift Group.
Following Operation Power Pack, the United States military intervention during the 1965 crisis in the Dominican Republic,[c]Robert McNamara, the United States Secretary of Defense directed the Air Force to develop a capability to disrupt civilian broadcasting networks and guerilla command and control networks. In response, Tactical Air Command began to test a tactical electronic warfare support system that would be installed on C-121s, named Coronet Solo. Coronet Solo aircraft would be able to join or disrupt commercial radio and television and to broadcast prerecorded programs, in addition to having an electronic countermeasures capability.[4]
Threatened by the closure of Olmsted (now Harrisburg Air National Guard Base) and by the downsizing of all conventionally powered transport aircraft, the National Guard Bureau volunteered the 168th for the Coronet Solo mission capability in 1967.[5][6] The 168th and its components were inactivated and its resources were transferred to the new 193d Tactical Electronic Warfare Group, which was activated to perform the Coronet Solo mission.[7]
Established on 23 October 1990 when the Alaska ANG 168th Air Refueling Squadron was expanded to a group level. The 168th Air Refueling Squadron traces its lineage to the 437th Bombardment Squadron of the 319th Bombardment Group, originally activated at Barksdale Field, Louisiana, in June 1942.
From a modest beginning in 1986, with just four KC-135E aircraft transferred from the Arkansas Air National Guard at Little Rock AFB, the unit has blossomed into Wing status and all the accouterments of a full Air Refueling Wing. The first rendezvous and refueling of the squadron occurred just weeks after the arrival of the first aircraft. The pilot in command was Lt Col Tom Gresch, and the navigator conducting the rendezvous was Capt Michael R. Stack, formerly of the Illinois Air National Guard's 126th Air Refueling Wing in Chicago. In 1995, the wing transitioned from the KC-135E to the KC-135R Stratotanker.
The 168 WG has command and control over thirteen subordinate assigned units whose missions include all aircraft maintenance for the PACAF-gained tankers, providing financial, transportation, contracting, and base supply resources, communications, data processing and visual information functions, organizational security, and disaster preparedness and air base operability. They also contain all personnel activities such as training, equal employment opportunity and recruiting, and limited diagnostic and therapeutic service in general medicine, flight medicine, bioenvironmental, environmental, and dental services.
Previously designated as the 168th Air Refueling Wing since 1992, the unit was redesignated as the 168th Wing (168 WG) on 3 Feb 2016, recognizing of the inclusion of the 213th Space Warning Squadron, a geographically separated unit (GSU) at Clear Air Force Station, Alaska. The squadron had been part of the wing since 2006 and the redesignation of the parent wing recognized the dual-mission sets of both air refueling and ballistic missile early warning that the wing now performed.[1] The 168th Wing completed its R-model conversion in 1995, and in 2000 they completed a major flight deck upgrade called "Pacer CRAG" – with the CRAG standing for Compass, Radar, and GPS (Global Positioning System). The Wing's Primary Assigned Aircraft are nine KC-135 R-models assigned to the 168th Air Refueling Squadron. The wing aircraft are identified with a blue tail stripe, and the name "Alaska". In 2000, the wing became mobility-tasked, which has been a true opportunity for growth and learning.
In April 1996 and again in 1997, the 168 ARW won one of the five annual Distinguished Flying Unit Plaques sponsored by the National Guard Association of the United States.
Also in 1997, the wing earned the Curtis N. "Rusty" Metcalf Trophy, awarded to the tactical/strategic airlift or air refueling flying unit demonstrating the highest standards of mission accomplishment over a sustained period each year.
Lineage
Established as the 168th Air Transport Group, Heavy and allotted to the Air National Guard on 16 December 1963
Activated on 15 March 1964
Redesignated 168th Military Airlift Group on 1 January 1966
Inactivated and withdrawn from the Air National Guard on 16 September 1967
Redesignated 168th Air Refueling Group and allotted to the Air National Guard in 1990
Activated and extended federal recognition on 23 October 1990
Redesignated 168th Air Refueling Wing on 1 June 1992
↑The upper right of the shield consists of a compass rose against a yellow background. The compass rose signifies the global nature of the wing mission and is set at a 30-degree angle to the east representing the magnetic variation of Alaska. The yellow background represents the midnight sun at high latitude and the day aspect of the air refueling mission. The lower left of the shield depicts a red lightning bolt running from cloud to cloud against a blue background. The red lightning bolt signifies the projection of military power, the clouds are the medium in which it performs its mission, and the blue background the Arctic night and the night aspect of its mission. The red lightning bolt is also a prominent feature of the squadron patch from which the 168th Wing evolved. Between the yellow and blue fields is a bar of ultramarine blue containing eight yellow stars. The ultramarine blue is Air Force blue representing the 168th Wing's role in the Total force policy; it is also the background color of the Flag of Alaska. The eight yellow stars are the stars of the big dipper also found on the Alaska flag.
↑Aircraft is Lockheed C-121G-LO Constellation, serial 54-4068.
↑The 193rd Special Operation Wing's web page attributes this interest to the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict, but the program predates that war. van Geffan, p. 6.
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