USAF Southern Command

USAF Southern Air Division 830th Air Division
Cessna OA-37 and Cessna O-2A over Honduras in 1984
Active	1976–1992
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Command of regional air forces
Part of	Tactical Air Command
Decorations	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Air Force Organizational Excellence Award
Insignia
Air Forces Panama emblem (Approved for Southern Air Division)

Air Forces Panama is an inactive United States Air Force (USAF) headquarters. It was assigned to Tactical Air Command, most recently to Twelfth Air Force. Its headquarters were located at Albrook Air Force Station and Howard Air Force Base in the Panama Canal Zone (later Panama). The organization was inactivated on 11 February 1992.

The unit was activated as the USAF Southern Air Division in 1976 to replace the United States Southern Command Air Forces as the USAF component of United States armed forces in the Panama Canal Zone. Southern Command Air Forces was simultaneously disestablished as a Major Command and USAF responsibility for South and Central America was transferred to Tactical Air Command. It was also renamed the 830th Air Division before receiving its final designation. After the transfer of the Panama Canal Zone to Panama, its remaining responsibilities were transferred to the 24th Wing, one of its former components.

The unit served during a period when USAF presence in Panama was gradually reduced, with some of its functions and organizations transferred to locations in the United States or discontinued. It operated its own aircraft, primarily in a forward air control and training mission, but also relied on airlift and fighter aircraft and crews rotating to its bases from other units. Although it focused on USAF representation, including training and foreign military sales, the unit also participated in Operation Just Cause and provided forces for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Air Forces Panama was first activated at Albrook Air Force Station as USAF Southern Air Division, which replaced United States Air Forces Southern Command as the United States Air Force (USAF) component of the United States Armed Forces in the Panama Canal Zone in January 1976. The division commander was also "dual-hatted" as the vice commander of United States Air Force Southern Command.