Robins AFB marks historic transition – 461st Air Control Wing to 461st Wing

They dropped the “control” out of their designation but certainly not out of their mission. The 461st Air Control Wing that is, which became the 461st Wing Thursday during a ceremony held at the Museum of Aviation.

“Today’s redesignation better captures the evolving mission of the Liberaiders now,” said Fifteenth Air Force Deputy Commander Brig. Gen. Jack Arthaud during his remarks. “Including ground-based command and control, expeditionary communications and combat airfield operations.”

Arthaud went on to catalog a number of historical timelines and accomplishments of the wing during its 27 years of active service. That included standing up as a bombardment group in 1943 during World War II. Flying B-24 Liberators out of Italy, it flew 223 combat missions, he said, and received two Distinguished Unit citations.

It was reactivated as a bombardment wing in 1953 out of Hill Air Force Base in Utah where it flew B-26 Invaders then transitioned to B-57 Canberras. It participated Operation Red Wings nuclear tests as part of the Atomic Energy Commission’s test series at Bikini Atoll and in the Marshall Islands.

Next came B-52s and KC-135s, Arthaud said. That came in 1962 where they deployed to Guam in support of the Vietnam War.  They were inactivated in 1968 but stood back up in 2011 with the Joint STARS.

It has, Arthaud said, “continued to play a critical role for C2, ISR, combat calm, combat airfield operations around the globe ever since. Participating in some of the most essential and critical operations of our nation in the last few years, beginning with New Dawn, Inherent Resolve, and Freedom Sentinel, as well as the crushing of ISIS.

“And so today the 461st continues to provide unmatched ground combat, ground command control, combat calm, anywhere around the world and that combat air operations, airfield operations like I talked about, from here at Robins, expeditionary, or air power anywhere, anytime.”

461st Wing Commander Col. Sandra Bonney, during her remarks added that 461st’s men and women have “ensured that airfields remained operational, that established communications, and battle management has been delivered anywhere that we need to project power to keep our mission safe and to keep our adversaries off balance.

“The 461st is not simply changing the way we’re doing battle management,” she said. She entered the Air Force in 2000, has 19 assignments, many as commander, under her belt – counting Robins – more than a dozen awards and decorations and is a “master navigator” with more than 2,300 flight hours; in the T-43, E-3Z/B/C/G AWACS and E-8C JSTARS. “We’re truly advancing it. So, moving to ground-based battle management in the Battle Control Center is an advancement. We’re going to be more persistent, more capable, more flexible and more survivable in the new weapon system.

A new Battle Management Operations Complex, a $104 million investment, she said would serve as the hub for global operations, “connecting our airmen here to every theater and every mission.

“So, as we move forward, make sure we have a clear focus. We’re still advancing lethality and readiness across the full spectrum of command, control, and communications. When the nation needs to project power, when that airfield needs to stay open, when we need communications … for everything we do … when we need battle management, they’re calling the Liberators. They’re calling you.

“So, the legacy isn’t just about what we’ve done. It is about what we will do.”