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U.S. Central Command Air Forces

United States Air Forces Central Command
B-1B.jpg
B-1B Lancer of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing
455th Air Expeditionary Wing A-10.jpg
A-10C Thunderbolt II of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing
138th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron - General Dynamics F-16C Block 30C Fighting Falcon 86-0249.jpg
F-16C Fighting Falcon of the 138th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron
United States Air Forces Central Command Map.jpg
AOR of United States Air Forces Central Command
Active 1942–present
Country United States of America
Branch  United States Air Force
Type Named Air Force
Role Air Component of United States Central Command
Size AFCENT is currently the second biggest Air Force command
Headquarters Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina
Nickname(s) AFCENT
Engagements
  • World War II - American Campaign Streamer (Plain).png
    World War II American Theater
  • European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Streamer.jpg
    World War II European-African-Middle Eastern Theater
  • Southwest Asia Service Streamer.png
    1991 Gulf War
  • Streamer IQCS.PNG
    Operation Iraqi Freedom
  • Streamer AFGCS.PNG
    Operation Enduring Freedom
Decorations
  • US Air Force Outstanding Unit Award - Stremer.jpg
    Air Force Outstanding Unit Award (8x)
  • Air Force Organizational Excellence Award Streamer.png
    Air Force Organizational Excellence Award
Commanders
Current
commander
Lt Gen Charles Q. Brown, Jr. As of 30 June 2015
Notable
commanders
Lewis H. Brereton
Hoyt Vandenberg
Gary L. North
Insignia
Emblem of the United States Air Forces Central Command United States Air Forces Central Command - Emblem.png
Emblem of the Ninth Air Force (1941–2009) Ninth Air Force - Emblem (Cold War).png

United States Air Forces Central Command (USAFCENT/AFCENT) is a Named Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint Department of Defense combatant command responsible for U.S. security interests in 27 nations that stretch from the Horn of Africa through the Persian Gulf region, into Central Asia.

Activated as 9th Air Force on 8 April 1942, the command fought in World War II both in the Western Desert Campaign in Egypt and Libya and as the tactical fighter component of the United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe (USSTAF), engaging enemy forces in France, the Low Countries and in Nazi Germany. During the Cold War, it was one of two Numbered Air Forces of Tactical Air Command.

Co-designated as United States Central Command Air Forces (CENTAF) on 1 January 1983, on 2009 as part of a complicated transfer of lineage, the lineage and history of the Ninth Air Force was bestowed on USAFCENT, and a new Ninth Air Force, which technically had no previous history, was activated. It has fought in the 1991 Gulf War, War in Afghanistan (OEF-A, 2001–present), the Iraq War (OIF, 2003–2010), as well as various engagements within USCENTCOM.

United States Air Forces Central is the direct descendant organization of Ninth Air Force, established in 1941. AFCENT was formed as the United States Central Command Air Forces (CENTAF) under Tactical Air Command (TAC). CENTAF initially consisted of designated United States Air Force elements of the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force (RDJTF) which was inactivated and reformed as USCENTCOM in 1983.


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Wikipedia

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