Aviano Air Base

As part of the most extensive restructuring since the Air Force became a separate service, Tactical Air Command was inactivated and Air Combat Command was activated and the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing was redesignated to its current name, the 31st Fighter Wing.[6]

Activation ceremony for the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano Air Base on 1 April 1994

To avoid losing the wing's heritage and history as the highest scoring Army Air Force unit in the Mediterranean Theater in WW II, the impressive combat record in the Vietnam War and a number of significant firsts they produced in the early years of the Air Force, the 31st Fighter Wing was chosen to move rather than fade into obscurity. On 1 April 1994, the 31st Fighter Wing inactivated at Homestead AFB and subsequently activated at Aviano Air Base, Italy, in place of the 401st Fighter Wing.[7]

The 31st Fighter Wing received two new squadrons at that time, the 555th and 510th Fighter Squadrons, along with their Block-40 F-16s. The wing immediately became involved with events in Bosnia, part of the former communist country of Yugoslavia, in May 1994 as part of Operation Deny Flight. In June 1995, a massive search and rescue operation took place to extract Captain Scott O'Grady of the 555th Fighter Squadron who was shot down over Bosnian-Serb controlled territory in Bosnia. A U.S. Marine Corps CH-53 picked him up after he evaded capture for six days.[8]

Timeline of Balkan Operations, 31st Fighter Wing

In August and September, Operation Deliberate Force began and the 31st Fighter Wing conducted air strikes against Bosnian Serbs to give the Muslim forces an upper hand in the conflict. Peacekeeping operations continued in the Balkans through the end of 2004, when the European Union assumed responsibility for the region.[9]

In 1999, U.S. Air Forces in Europe activated the 31st Air Expeditionary Wing-Noble Anvil at Aviano for Operation Allied Force in the Province of Kosovo, which was not authorized by the UN Security Council. Assigned under a joint task force, the 31st Air Expeditionary Wing flew from Aviano and joined NATO allies in a 78-day air campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia). From 24 March to 10 June 1999, the 31st Air Expeditionary Wing, the largest expeditionary wing in Air Force history flew nearly 9,000 combat sorties and accumulated almost 40,000 hours of combat service over the skies of Kosovo, Serbia and the rest of the Balkans in support of NATO operations. The wing accomplished much during OAF as the two permanently assigned flying squadrons, the 510th and 555th, flew more than 2,400 combined sorties and more than 10,000 combat hours.[10]

Emblem of the 31st Air Expeditionary Wing

In 2000, the wing began deployments in support of the Expeditionary Air Force. From March to September 2000, the 510th and 555th Fighter Squadrons conducted back-to-back deployments to Ahmad al-Jaber AB, Kuwait, in support of Operation Southern Watch. While at Al Jaber, the squadrons flew more than 400 combat sorties.

From June through December 2001, the fighter squadrons deployed combat search and rescue capabilities three times and helped enforce the no-fly zone over Iraq.

From August to December 2002, the 510th Fighter Squadron and 603rd Air Control Squadron returned to Southwest Asia. The two squadrons supported Operation Enduring Freedom.

Simultaneously, the 555th deployed personnel and aircraft to Decimomannu Air Base, Sardinia, while the runway at Aviano was closed for repairs.

The wing's support of Operation Iraqi Freedom began in late 2003. Aviano served as the launch point for airborne/air-land insertion of airborne forces opening a second front in northern Iraq. During that time, the wing secured, bedded and fed more than 2,300 Army and Air Force personnel. The operation, the largest airborne operation since 1989, constituted 62 missions, transporting 2,146 passengers and 2,433.7 tons of cargo.

Since the beginning of combat operations in Iraq, forces from the wing have been on regular combat rotations into the region. In late 2003, the wing's 603rd Air Control Squadron became the first unit from the wing to deploy to Iraq. They also relocated their entire operation from Baghdad International Airport to Balad Air Base. Under combat conditions, the squadron transferred $73 million in equipment and more than 100 personnel with 20 convoys. On 10 April 2004, insurgents launched a mortar attack on Balad, killing Airman 1st Class Antoine Holt and injuring two other 603rd Air Control Squadron members. Airman Holt's death constituted the 31st Fighter Wing's first combat fatality since the Vietnam War.

The 31st Fighter Wing continued deploying forces in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, with more than one-third of the wing deploying to support operations each year from 2003 to 2007.

In 2007, the 555th Fighter Squadron deployed to Kunsan Air Base in the Republic of Korea.

Since arriving at Aviano, the wing has also participated in numerous training exercises with international partners, including training deployments to Latvia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Spain, Slovenia and Poland.

In March 2011, the 31st Fighter Wing played a major role in the United Nations' response to the crisis in Libya, known as Operation Odyssey Dawn, in enforcing no-fly zone.[11] The wing hosted four flying units and more than 1,350 personnel during the 15-day operation, 17 to 31 March. It worked around the clock to launch 2,250 flying operations out of Aviano Air Base. As Operation Odyssey Dawn came to an end on 31 March, so began Operation Unified Protector, with NATO taking the lead until the operation's conclusion 31 October of that year.[7]

Aviano F-16s again returned to the skies over Libya in June 2014. Due to significant fighting in Tripoli during the 2014 Libyan conflict the U.S embassy was evacuated. During a five-hour non-combatant evacuation operation, three F-16s launched from Aviano guarded the evacuation of American citizens as embassy staff and U.S Marines convoyd overland from Tripoli into Tunisia.[12][13]

In the Cavalese cable car disaster, on 3 February 1998, a U.S. Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler jet flying too low on a training exercise from Aviano Air Base severed a cable car's cable over the Alps at Cavalese, Italy, causing 20 deaths.[14]

On 4 November 2009, the conviction by an Italian court of 22 CIA agents, a U.S. Air Force colonel and two Italian SISMI secret agents confirmed the role of the Aviano Air Base in the kidnapping, on 17 February 2003, of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, in the so-called "extraordinary rendition" program.[15] The man, abducted in Milan by CIA agents, was taken to Aviano Air Base for interrogation before being transported via Ramstein Air Base in Germany to Alexandria, Egypt, and turned over to the custody of Egypt's State Security Intelligence.[15][16][17]

The 31st Fighter Wing is made up of four groups, each consisting of several squadrons.

The 31st Operations Group ensures the combat readiness of two F-16CG squadrons, one air control squadron, and one operational support squadron conducting and supporting worldwide air operations. The group prepares fighter pilots, controllers, and support personnel to execute U.S. and NATO war plans and contingency operations. It trains, equips, plans, and provides weather, intelligence, standardization/evaluation, and command and control sustaining global flying operations.[18]

The 31st Maintenance Group provides peacetime and combat maintenance and munitions control, and executive support for the 31st Fighter Wing, geographically separated units under the command and control of the wing, and units gained during advanced stages of readiness. The 31st MXG also responds to humanitarian and contingency logistics support requirements as directed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff through Headquarters U.S. Air Forces Europe to locations in Europe, Africa, and Southwest Asia.[19]

The 31st Mission Support Group's goal is to provide infrastructure and service to support a premiere combat capability and quality of life to the 31st Fighter Wing, Aviano community and multiple geographically separated units.[20]

The 31st Medical Group supports the readiness of 31st Fighter Wing and associated units throughout the Southern Region, ensuring the health of its community by providing optimal patient-focused medical care from internal, Department of Defense and Host Nation resources. The unit employs medical resources and preventive initiatives to ensure airmen remain mission ready to support the Expeditionary Air Force, U.S. and NATO objectives worldwide.[21]