480th Intelligence , Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing The 480th Intelligence , Surveillance , and Reconnaissance Wing ( 480th ISR Wing ) is headquartered at Langley Air Force Base , Virginia . Overview . The 480th ISR Wing leads Air Force globally networked ISR operations . The wing operates and maintains the Air Force Distributed Common Ground System ( DCGS ) , also known as the " Sentinel " weapon system , conducting imagery , cryptologic , and measurement and signatures intelligence activities . The wing employs more than 4 , 100 people . In addition , more than 700 Air Reserve Component members volunteered to augment the wing ' s team as it engages in the War on Terrorism . In total , the 480th ISR Wing operates and manages $ 5 billion of intelligence resources . History . The wing traces its history back to 1943 when it was formed as the 480th Antisubmarine Group . In 1951 , it became the 580th Air Resupply and Communications Wing , and it inactivated in 1953 . The wing was officially redesignated the 480th Intelligence Wing and reactivated 1 December 2003 . It was organized under Eighth Air Force , Barksdale Air Force Base , Louisiana , and Air Combat Command , Langley Air Force Base , Virginia . Air Force officials announced 14 January 2008 , the transfer of the 480th Intelligence Wing from 8th AF to the Air Force Intelligence , Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency . 480th Antisubmarine Group . The group was formed in Morocco in June 1943 from squadrons previously assigned to RAF St Eval , England who deployed to Port Lyautey as the 2037th Antisubmarine Wing ( Provisional ) the previous March after training with RAF Coastal Command in aerial antisubmarine warfare techniques . The group ' s mission was to shore up scanty Allied antisubmarine defenses in the Atlantic approaches to the Straits of Gibraltar . German U - boat s had very recently sunk four ships in an Allied convoy about a hundred miles off the coast of Portugal . Over the long term , the Allies wanted to increase air antisubmarine patrols and convoy coverage to protect their preparations for the impending Tunisian offensive and the subsequent invasion of Sicily . Using modified B - 24 Liberator bombers equipped with RADAR , external fuel tanks and other antisubmarine equipment , the 1st and 2d Antisubmarine Squadrons joined two United States Navy PBY Catalina squadrons patrolling from Morocco . The two squadrons were assigned to the Northwest African Coastal Air Force for administration and placed under the operational control of the United States Navy Fleet Air Wing 15 , which answered to the commander of the Moroccan Sea Frontier . The AAF squadrons flew their first mission on 19 March despite shortages of spare parts , equipment , and maintenance personnel . Ordinarily , three B - 24s flew daily on operational missions , covering an area as far south as 30°N , as far north as Cape Finisterre , Spain , and as far west as a thousand nautical miles from Port Lyautey . Much of the time , the Liberators flew convoy coverage for ships sailing from or approaching the Straits of Gibraltar . Its antisubmarine activity reached a peak in July 1943 when enemy U - boat s concentrated off the coast of Portugal to intercept convoys bound for the Mediterranean . The group destroyed and damaged several submarines during the month which aided in protecting supply lines to forces involved in the campaign for Sicily . At the time , the group was under the command of Colonel Jack Roberts and assigned to the Northwest African Coastal Air Force under the command of Air Vice - Marshal Hugh Lloyd , but they operated under the control of USN FAW - 15 at Port Lyautey , French Morocco , now Kenitra , Morocco . The group also covered convoys and engaged numerous Luftwaffe aircraft in combat . In September 1943 part of the group deployed to Protville Tunisia located between Tunis , on the east coast and Bizerte , on the north coast about thirty - five miles northwest of Tunis . For the first fourteen days , the 1st Squadron operated under the Northwest African Coastal Air Force . On 4 September , the B - 24s began searching for enemy submarines and shipping between Sicily and Naples . the squadron covered this area twenty - four hours a day until the landing of the United States Fifth Army at Salerno , Italy , on 9 September , when it extended antisubmarine patrols to cover the sea west of Sardinia and Corsica . One B - 24 destroyed three German flying boats northwest of Sardinia . In addition to the antisubmarine patrols , the 1st Squadron flew escort for several Allied convoys and covered the escape of Italian naval vessels from Genoa and Spezia to Malta following Italy ' s surrender . After returning to Port Lyautey on 18 September , the 1st Squadron operated in the Moroccan Sea Frontier until it moved to Langley Field Virginia in November 1943 . That return to the United States marked the final stage in the Air Force ' s withdrawal from its antisubmarine mission . The 480th was disbanded on 29 January 1944 . The group was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for actions that contributed to the winning of the Battle of the Atlantic . 580th Air Resupply and Communications Wing . The 580th Air Resupply and Communications Wing ( ARCW ) was activated at Mountain Home AFB , Idaho , in April 1951 . First - year activities for the 580th was devoted to training aircrew and support personnel in their new PSYWAR mission and in rebuilding Mountain Home AFB , which had fallen into disrepair since the end of World War II . " A B - 29 assigned to the 581st Air Resupply Squadron , 580th Air Resupply and Communications Wing ( ARCW ) , based at Mountain Home AFB , Idaho , conducted trials at Eglin AFB , during the summer of 1951 to determine if the aircraft could be used to extract personnel utilizing the prototype Personnel Pickup Ground Station extraction system . The test aircraft was modified with a 48 - inch diameter opening in place of the aft - belly turret and with an elongated tailhook at the rear of the aircraft . The system was similar to the one adopted in 1952 by Fifth Air Force for the C - 47 Skytrain s of the Special Air Missions detachment in Korea . The tests proved technically feasible , but the project was dropped for the B - 29 aircraft due to aircraft size and safety considerations of flying it so close to the ground . " In July and September 1952 the 580th ARCW , which had been stationed at Mountain Home AFB since its activation , embarked its support personnel by way of ship to North Africa for its initial deployment overseas . Assigned B - 29s flew out of Westover AFB , Massachusetts , with a planned refueling and overnight crew rest stop in the Azores en route to Wheelus AB , Libya . The C - 119s and SA - 16s , with a much shorter range than the B - 29s , took a northern route through Iceland , England , and Italy before arriving in Libya . Life at Wheelus AB for the 580th was Spartan , at best , for the first six months of operations . Personnel lived and worked in tents enduring the sweltering summer heat of North Africa . Low - level training was emphasized for the aircrews . The B - 29s and C - 119s flew low over the Mediterranean Sea , and flew 500 feet above the Libyan desert . In January 1954 a B - 29 was lost during a low - level training mission when it failed to clear a ridgeline . A primary customer for the 580th was the 10th Special Forces Group ( Airborne ) ( 10th SFG ) ( A ) which was garrisoned at Bad Tölz , West Germany , in the Bavarian Alps . Tenth Group personnel would deploy to Libya for parachute and desert survival training . Dropping at 1 , 000 feet above the ground , B - 29 navigators utilized the Nordon bombsight developed during World War II to determine the release point . The bombsight proved to be equally as accurate at 1 , 000 feet as it had been dropping bombs at high altitude during World War II . Assigned SA - 16s were tasked to fly classified courier missions throughout the Mediterranean , Middle East , and southern Europe . The amphibian aircraft proved to be versatile and on several occasions was tasked to fly extremely sensitive missions , including ones into the Balkans behind the so - called Iron Curtain and into southern Russia . Operating out of Tehran , Iran , in March 1956 , an SA - 16 penetrated Soviet airspace at low - level altitude en route to a night amphibious exfiltration from the Caspian Sea . The mission went as planned , resulting in the successful exfiltration of a man , woman , and two children . The family was flown directly to a water rendezvous in the Mediterranean Sea and from there transferred to an awaiting ship . In September 1953 , after the Korean Armistice was signed that ended active conflict on the Korean peninsula and three months before inactivation of the ARCS , the three active wings were reduced to air resupply groups . The downsized 580th ARG was approximately one - half the size of the former wing and consisted of two squadrons – one flying squadron and one support squadron . Headquarters Seventeenth Air Force , dated 12 October 1956 , inactivated the 580th ARG in place in Libya . Lineage . 480th Antisubmarine Group 580 Air Resupply and Communications Wing Consolidated Unit Components . Groups Squadrons