page_title: 188th Wing
section_title: Tactical Fighter
hierarchical_section_title: 188th Wing / History / Tactical Fighter
caption_attribution_description: U.S. Air Force General Dynamics F-16C Fighting Falcon aircraft from the 184th Fighter Squadron Flying Razorbacks, 188th Fighter Wing, Arkansas Air National Guard, spotted on the tarmac at Fort Smith, Arkansas (USA), on 20 June 2002.
context_page_description: The 188th Wing is a unit of the Arkansas Air National Guard, stationed at Ebbing Air National Guard Base, Fort Smith, Arkansas. The 188th is equipped with the MQ-9 Reaper. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air Combat Command.
context_section_description: Following their withdrawal from the Vietnam War, numerous USAF F-100D Super Sabres were turned over to the Air National Guard.  Tactical Air Command realigned the 151st into a Tactical Fighter Group in 1972, and equipping the unit with Vietnam Veteran F-100D and twin-seat F-100F Trainers.  In 1979, the Super Sabre was being retired and the 184th TFS began receiving F-4C Phantom IIs to be used in an air defense role.   In 1988, as part of the retirement of the Phantom II, the squadron began receiving Block 15 F-16A Fighting Falcons.  The first F-16 delivery to the squadron was on 1 July 1988 and the formal acceptance of the F-16 happened on 15 October. On 15 March 1992 the 184th dropped the Tactical name from the squadron as the parent 184th converted to the USAF Objective organization.
  In early 2001 the 184th FS began to retire its F-16A/B block 15s to AMARC in exchange for F-16C block 32s. They never received any D-models. Because the squadron flew the rarely seen block 32, the squadron became a source for spare F-16s for the USAF Thunderbirds flight demonstration team. In the end the 184th FS never had to give up any of their aircraft as the Thunderbirds took needed aircraft from home based Nellis 57th Fighter Wing.
  Deployed to Prince Sultan AB, Saudi Arabia (24 October 2002 to December 2002) in support of Operation Southern Watch. In 2005, the 188th deployed nearly 300 Airmen and multiple F-16C Fighting Falcons to Balad Air Base, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
caption: F-16Cs Arkansas ANG at Ft Smith 2002
exif: {}