315th Weapons Squadron

315th Weapons Squadron
	Col. Robert Garland, USAF Weapons School commandant, activates the 315th Weapons Squadron and Lt. Col. Jason Seyer assumes command, 2 March 2012 at Nellis Air Force Base
Active	1958-1993; 2012-present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Squadron
Role	Advanced ICBM Combat Crew Training
Part of	Air Combat Command
Garrison/HQ	Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada
Motto(s)	Training – Keystone of Peace (1964-1993)
Decorations	; Air Force Outstanding Unit Award [1]
Insignia
315th Weapons Squadron emblem (approved 2 March 2012) [1]
4315th Combat Crew Training Squadron emblem(approved 4 May 1964) [1]

Last updated March 05, 2019

The 315th Weapons Squadron is a United States Air Force unit, assigned to the USAF Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. It is responsible for training a tactics development for the Air Force's intercontinental ballistic missile force. From 1958 through the early 1990s, it was the primary missile training activity for Strategic Air Command as the 4315th Combat Crew Training Squadron.

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces, and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the fourth in order of precedence. The USAF is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.

The USAF Weapons School is a unit of the United States Air Force, assigned to the 57th Wing. It is stationed at Nellis AFB, Nevada.

Nellis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation in southern Nevada with military schools and more squadrons than any other USAF base. Nellis hosts air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exercises such as Green Flag-West flown in "Military Operations Area (MOA) airspace", associated with the nearby Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR). The base also has the Combined Air and Space Operations Center-Nellis.

History

Established as the first USAF intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) training squadron at Cooke Air Force Base California in May 1958. As the 4315th Student Squadron, and later 4315th Combat Crew Training Squadron, the unit was responsible for implementing the Strategic Air Command missile combat crew training program. All USAF ICBM crew personnel (Atlas, Titan I, Titan II, Minuteman I,II, II) up to the inactivation of the 4315th in July 1993 were trained at one time or another by this unit. In 1993, Air Education and Training Command assumed the crew training role from Air Combat Command and activated the 381st Training Group to replace the 4315th.^[2]

An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a guided ballistic missile with a minimum range of 5,500 kilometres (3,400 mi) primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery. Similarly, conventional, chemical, and biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness, but have never been deployed on ICBMs. Most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, each of which can strike a different target.

Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense (DoD) Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command (MAJCOM), responsible for Cold War command and control of two of the three components of the U.S. military's strategic nuclear strike forces, the so-called "nuclear triad," with SAC having control of land-based strategic bomber aircraft and intercontinental ballistic missiles or ICBMs.

Air Education and Training Command (AETC) was established 1 July 1993, with the realignment of Air Training Command and Air University. It is one of the U.S. Air Force's ten major commands and reports to Headquarters, United States Air Force.

Re-established as the 315th Weapons Squadron as part of the USAF Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada in 2012. Provides the ICBM Weapons Instructor Course.^[3]

Lineage

Designated as the 4315th Student Squadron and organized on 1 May 1958

Redesignated 4315th Combat Crew Training Squadron on 14 May 1963

Inactivated 1 July 1993^[2]

Redesignated 315th Weapons Squadron on 20 January 2012

Activated on 2 March 2012^[1]

Assignments

392d Air Base Group, 1 May 1958
704th Strategic Missile Wing, 15 November 1958
1st Missile Division (later 1st Strategic Aerospace Division), 1 July 1959
392d Strategic Missile Wing, 18 October 1961
1st Strategic Aerospace Division, 20 December 1961
Fifteenth Air Force, 31 March 1970
1st Strategic Aerospace Division (later Strategic Missile Center), 4 January 1975
310th Operations Group, 1 September 1991 – 1 July 1993
USAF Weapons School, 2 March 2012 – present^[1]

Stations

Cooke Air Force Base (later Vandenberg Air Force Base), California, 1 May 1958 – 1 July 1993
Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, 2 March 2012 – present^[1]

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References

Notes

1 2 3 4 5 6 Bailey, Carl E. (April 26, 2016). "Factsheet 315 Weapons Sq (ACC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
1 2 4315th Combat Crew Training Squadron Lineage and History
↑ "USAF Weapons School factsheet". Archived from the original on 2013-10-22. Retrieved 2013-10-17.

Bibliography

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/ .

External links

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[315WSfacts-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bailey, Carl E. (April 26, 2016). "Factsheet 315 Weapons Sq (ACC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved February 24, 2019.

[SAC-2] 1 2 4315th Combat Crew Training Squadron Lineage and History

[3] "USAF Weapons School factsheet". Archived from the original on 2013-10-22. Retrieved 2013-10-17.