page_title: 135th Airlift Group
section_title: Tactical airlift
hierarchical_section_title: 135th Airlift Group / History / Tactical airlift
caption_attribution_description: English: C-130J aircraft from the Maryland Air National Guard stationed at Warfield Air National Guard base in Baltimore, Maryland flying during a training exercise. (File Photo, RELEASED)
context_page_description: The 135th Airlift Group is an inactive unit of the United States Air Force, allotted to the Maryland Air National Guard. At the time of its inactivation, it was assigned to the 175th Wing, stationed at Warfield Air National Guard Base, Middle River, Maryland. The unit cased its colors 27 Sep 2013 and was inactivated 30 Sep 2013.
context_section_description: In 1977 it was again reorganized, this time as a tactical airlift unit as part of a general program to upgrade Air National Guard units. Was assigned the C-7A Caribou light transport, the aircraft being Vietnam War veterans. In 1980, the unit converted to the C-130B Hercules.  In 1981, it moved across the field to join other Maryland Air National Guard units based on the north side of the field. The military facilities are named Warfield Air National Guard Base.  During the early 1990s, the 135th participated in humanitarian relief efforts in Somalia, peacekeeping and humanitarian relief in Bosnia, the U.S. intervention in Haiti and the enforcement of U.N. sanctions against Iraq during the 1990s.
  In mid-1996, the Air Force, in response to budget cuts, and changing world situations, began experimenting with Air Expeditionary organizations. The Air Expeditionary Force (AEF) concept was developed that would mix Active-Duty, Reserve and Air National Guard elements into a combined force. Instead of entire permanent units deploying as "Provisional" as in the 1991 Gulf War, Expeditionary units are composed of "aviation packages" from several wings, including active-duty Air Force, the Air Force Reserve Command and the Air National Guard, would be married together to carry out the assigned deployment rotation.
  On 15 June 1996, the units of the 135th and 175th merged to form the 175th Wing. The 175th Wing became composite organization with an Air Combat Command-gained fighter unit and an Air Mobility Command-gained airlift unit.
  Reactivated in 1999 as a separate group of the 175th Wing, it dedicated its first C-130J, the latest and most advanced version of the venerable transport. The 135th had played a major role in the test and evaluation of the aircraft and its procedures and was the first fully equipped C-130J unit in the U.S. Air Force.
  In February 2000 the 135th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron (135th EAS) was first formed from 135th personnel and aircraft and deployed to Lambarene Airport, Gabon, for exercise "Gabon 2000" with the objective of increasing the capacity of ECCAS states in the field of peacekeeping and conflict prevention and management. This exercise represented a direct application of the French RECAMP-concept (reinforcement of African peacekeeping capacities).
  BRAC 2005 saw the C-130J aircraft of the squadron being transferred to the 146th Airlift Wing (ANG), Channel Islands AGS, CA (four aircraft), and 143d Airlift Wing (ANG), Quonset State Airport AGS, RI (four aircraft).  In 2011, the first C-27J Spartan light transport was received.  The squadron will obtain four of the C-27Js.
caption: 135th Airlift Squadron C-130J 97-3151
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