page_title: 363rd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing
section_title: 363d Air Expeditionary Wing
hierarchical_section_title: 363rd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing / History / 363d Air Expeditionary Wing
caption_attribution_description: English: An F-15 Eagle takes off at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, during Operation SOUTHERN WATCH. These Aircraft are a part of the coalition forces of the 363d Air Expeditionary Wing, Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia that enforces the no-fly and no-drive zone in Southern Iraq to protect and defend against Iraqi aggression. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Sean M. Worrell) (RELEASED)
context_page_description: The 363d Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing is a United States Air Force unit. The group is assigned to the United States Air Force Sixteenth Air Force, stationed at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.
  The mission of the wing is content-dominant multi-intelligence analysis and targeting for five distinct mission sets: Air Defenses, Counter-Space, Counter-ISR, Theater Ballistic Missile/Cruise Missile Threat, and Air Threat
  In a ceremony on 11 July 2011, the group was inactivated and replaced by the AFCENT Air Warfare Center. On 13 February 2015, the 363 FTG was redesignated as the 363d Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing. The wing activated on 17 February 2015.
context_section_description: The 363d Air Expeditionary Wing (363 AEW) was activated on 1 December 1998 and replaced the 4404th Wing (Provisional) when the United States Air Force inactivated all MAJCOM wings. The 363 AEW was the primary United States Air Force Air Expeditionary Wing responsible for Operation Southern Watch (OSW), which involved patrolling the Southern No-Fly Zone over Iraq below the 33rd Parallel.  The Wing was inactivated after the onset of Operation Iraqi Freedom when all American combat forces left Saudi Arabia.
  Following Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, US forces began to pull out of Prince Sultan Air Base. On 28 April the CAOC was shifted from PSAB to Al-Udeid in Qatar. On 29 April, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced that US forces would begin pulling out of Saudi Arabia and that forces in the country would be diverted to other locations. Rear Admiral David Nichols, the deputy commander of the coalition air operations center stated that much of the assets associated with the 363d AEW would be relocated by the end of the Summer 2003.
  The 363d AEW completed its last operational mission supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom on 28 May 2003 completing a 13-year, continuous mission USAF presence in Saudi Arabia. An E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System deployed to the 363d Expeditionary Airborne Air Control Squadron from Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., flew the wing's last operational mission supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
  U.S. officials transferred control of portions of Prince Sultan Air Base to Saudi officials at a ceremony 26 August 2003. The ceremony also marked the inactivation of the 363d Air Expeditionary Wing.
caption: A 363d Air Expeditionary Wing F-15 Eagle takes off at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, during Operation Southern Watch
exif: {}