page_title: 380th Air Expeditionary Wing
section_title: Post Cold War
hierarchical_section_title: 380th Air Expeditionary Wing / History / Post Cold War
context_page_description: The 380th Air Expeditionary Wing is a provisional unit of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command. It is attached to the United States Air Forces Central Command component of ACC and is stationed at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates.
  About 1,200 active duty military members, Reserve, and Air National Guard personnel make up the Wing. Aircraft assigned: McDonnell Douglas KC-10A Extenders, Lockheed U-2 Dragon Ladies, Boeing E-3 Sentry and Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk. Its mission is aerial refueling and reconnaissance.
  The Wing's origins date to 1942 when the 380th Bombardment Group was established. It operated primarily in the Southwest Pacific Theater as a Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber unit assigned to Fifth Air Force.
  Active for over 40 years, the 380th Bombardment Wing was a component organization of Strategic Air Command's deterrent force during the Cold War, as a strategic bombardment wing.
context_section_description: In September 1990, crews from both air refueling squadrons combined with personnel from other units to form the 1703rd Air Refueling Wing (Provisional) in Saudi Arabia, supporting Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
  On 10 July 1991, Strategic Air Command and the 380th Wing said goodbye to the FB-111A when the last 4 operational aircraft left Plattsburgh for their final flight to preservation in museums. The 380th Wing was redesignated the 380th Air Refueling Wing a few days earlier on 1 July 1991. The mission of the wing was to provide worldwide air refueling with its KC-135A/Q Stratotankers and served as host to the Tanker Task Force operation. The 380th Tanker Task Force was responsible for supporting most of the transoceanic operations on the East Coast.
  The wing was absorbed by Fifteenth Air Force, Air Mobility Command, on 1 June 1992 with the inactivation of SAC. As a result of the 1993 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, Plattsburgh was closed on 30 September 1995 and the 380th Wing was inactivated.
caption: Boeing KC-135 from the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall, UK
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