378th Air Expeditionary Wing

378th Air Expeditionary Wing
An F-15C of the 44th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, 378th AEW, at Prince Sultan Air Base on 2 June 2020.
Active October 18, 1942—December 1942
(378 BG)
October 24, 2005—November 14, 2019
(378 AEG)
November 14, 2019—present
(378 AEW)
(4 years, 1 month)
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
Type Air Expeditionary
Role Various
Part of Air Combat Command
Garrison/HQ Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia
Website 378th Air Expeditionary Wing
Commanders
Current
commander		 Brig Gen Willam D. Betts
Insignia
378th Air Expeditionary Wing emblem

The 378th Air Expeditionary Wing (378 AEW) is a provisional United States Air Forces Central Command unit assigned to Air Combat Command. As a provisional unit, it may be activated or inactivated at any time.

The 378th Bombardment Group was an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit. Its last assignment was with the Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command at Langley Field, Virginia, where it was stationed from October to December 1942. The group participated in the Antisubmarine Campaign along the Atlantic coast of the United States until it was inactivated, when the Antisubmarine Command assigned all its squadrons directly to the command's two antisubmarine wings.

The current 378th AEW is garrisoned in Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia.

Structure

  • 378th Air Expeditionary Wing (AEW)
    • 378th Expeditionary Operations Group (EOG)
      • 77th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron (EFS)
      • 430th Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron (EECS)
      • 378th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron (EOSS)
      • 378th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron (EMS)
    • 378th Expeditionary Mission Support Group (EMSG)
      • 378th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron (ECES)
      • 378th Expeditionary Communications Squadron (ECS)
      • 378th Expeditionary Contracting Squadron (ECONS)
      • 378th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron (EFSS)
      • 378th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron (ELRS)
      • 378th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron (ESFS)
    • 378th Expeditionary Medical Group (EMDG)

History

Douglas O-46A
A North American O-47A as flown by the old group
A 494th EFS F-15E Strike Eagle sits on the flight line prior to a sortie at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, January 8, 2020
Two 555th EFS F-16 Fighting Falcons taxi on the flight line at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, February 26, 2020
A USAF E-8C JSTARS taxies at Prince Sultan Air Base, March 8, 2020
Two F-35A's and two F-16C's taxi at Prince Sultan Air Base, February 7, 2020
E-3G aircrew disembark their aircraft at Prince Sultan Air Base, March 1, 2020
USAF F-15C's from the 44th EFS fly in formation with Royal Saudi Air Force F-15SA's on June 25, 2020

The group was activated at Langley Field, Virginia on October 18, 1942 with the 520th, 521st, and 523d Bombardment Squadrons assigned. Although designated a medium bombardment unit, it was equipped with Douglas O-46 and North American O-47 single-engine observation aircraft.

The group conducted its operations along the southeastern coast of the United States. Only the 523d Squadron was located with the group's headquarters at Langley. The 520th Squadron operated from Jacksonville Municipal Airport, Florida, while the 521st was stationed at Charleston Army Air Field, South Carolina.

In late November, Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command began a series of organizational actions to more nearly align it with United States Navy headquarters engaged in the antisubmarine campaign. On 20 November, the 522d Bombardment Squadron at Lantana Airport, Florida was assigned to the group, At the same time, the group's 520th Squadron was attached directly to the new 25th Antisubmarine Wing, which had been established to manage Army Air Forces antisubmarine units in the area of the Navy's Eastern Sea Frontier. The group's squadrons were redesignated as antisubmarine squadrons, Finally, in December, after less than two months of operation, the group was inactivated and its component squadrons were reassigned to the 25th Antisubmarine Wing.

Twenty-first century

The unit was reactivated as the 378th Air Expeditionary Group and was converted to provisional status on October 24, 2005. It was then redesignated as the 378th Air Expeditionary Wing on November 14, 2019.

The base was expanded by the 621st Contingency Response Group "Devil Raiders" from June 15, 2019.

On December 17, 2019, in response to increasing tensions with Iran, the unit was formally activated as the 378th Air Expeditionary Wing at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia. The newly reactivated wing received its first combat aircraft shortly thereafter, when McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagles from the 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron arrived in early January 2020. The 494th would be replaced by General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons from the Triple Nickel 555th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron in late February 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the originally planned March redeployment to Aviano Air Base was rescheduled to 20 April 2020.

In addition to hosting the 494th EFS and 555th EFS for traditional CENTCOM deployments, the 378th AEW has also conducted "Agile Combat Employment" exercises with Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II, Northrop Grumman E-8C JSTARS and Boeing E-3 Sentry. The intent of these exercises (which are considerably shorter than a normal deployment) was to demonstrate the Wing's ability to rapidy increase its number and variety of combat aircraft in the event tensions in the region were to escalate.

On May 16, 2020, the Department of Defense confirmed that an undisclosed F-15C Eagle squadron, and United States Marine Corps (USMC) McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II from Marine Attack Squadron 214 (VMA-214) had replaced the Triple Nickel. The USAF eventually revealed that the F-15C's belonged to the 44th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron.

Harriers assigned to VMA-214 ended their deployment to Prince Sultan on July 21, 2020, while the F-15C's of the 44th EFS returned to Kadena Air Base by October 7, 2020. F-16C's from the 20th Fighter Wing, 77 EFS arrived on October 10, 2020 to replace the departed AV-8B's and F-15C's.

Lineage

  • Constituted as the 378th Bombardment Group (Medium) on October 13, 1942
Activated on December 18, 1942
Inactivated on December 14, 1942
  • Reactivated as the 378th Air Expeditionary Group was converted to provisional status on October 24, 2005
  • Redesignated as the 378th Air Expeditionary Wing on November 14, 2019. It operates out of Prince Sultan Airbase, Saudi Arabia.

Assignments

  • Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command, October 13 — December 14, 1942
  • Unknown 2005 — 2019
  • Air Combat Command after redesignation & conversion 2019

Squadrons

U.S. Marines of VMA-214 pre-flight an AV-8B Harrier II at Prince Sultan Air Base on June 16, 2020

Stations

  • Langley Field, Virginia, October 18, - December 14, 1942
  • Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, December 17, 2019 – Present

Aircraft

  • Boeing E-3G Sentry
  • Douglas O-46
  • North American O-47
  • General Dynamics F-16CM Fighting Falcon
  • McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle
  • McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle
  • McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II
  • McDonnell Douglas KC-10A Extender
  • General Dynamics F-16C Fighting Falcon
  • Bombardier E-11A BACN

Campaign

Campaign Streamer Campaign Dates Notes
Antisubmarine October 18, 1942 – December 14, 1942
Operation Inherent Resolve December 17, 2019 – present

See also