461st Operations Group The 461st Operations Group ( 461 OG ) is a joint Air Force / Army unit flying the E - 8 J - STARS aircraft . The 461 OG is assigned to the 461st Air Control Wing of Air Combat Command ( ACC ) and is stationed at Robins Air Force Base , Georgia . It was activated on 1 Oct 2011 . The group was originally activated in 1943 as the 461st Bombardment Group ( Heavy ) as a World War II United States Army Air Forces combat organization . The highly - decorated unit served primarily in the Mediterranean , African , and The Middle East Theater of World War II . Later activated as a tactical bomber unit by Tactical Air Command ( TAC ) in the 1950s , the group was designated the 461st Bombardment Group , Tactical . Mission . The 461 OG is the only active duty Air Force unit operating the E - 8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System ( Joint STARS ) , an advanced ground surveillance and battle management system . Joint STARS detects , locates , classifies , tracks and targets ground movements on the battlefield , communicating real - time information through secure data links with U . S . Forces command posts . History . World War II . The group was constituted in May 1943 as a B - 24 Liberator heavy bombardment group and activated on 1 July at Wendover Field , Utah . It trained under II Bomber Command at several airfields in Utah , Idaho , and California , with group elements undergoing combat simulation training at the Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics in Florida . The 461st deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations ( MTO ) in February 1944 , the air echelon flying B - 24 ' s via the South Atlantic transport route , stopping in North Africa before joining the ground echelon in Italy . It was assigned to the 49th Bombardment Wing of Fifteenth Air Force at Torretto Airfield , Italy , in late February . The group began combat operations in April , engaging in long range strategic bombardment operations of Nazi Germany and Occupied Europe . It engaged chiefly in bombardment of communications , industries , and other strategic objectives in Italy , France , Germany , Czechoslovakia , Hungary , Austria , Romania , Yugoslavia , and Greece . It supported Fifteenth AF ' s counter - air operations by bombing enemy airdromes and aircraft centers , receiving a Distinguished Unit Citation ( DUC ) for a mission on 13 April 1944 when the group battled its way through enemy defenses to attack an aircraft components plant in Budapest . The 461st BG conducted Oil Campaign of World War II operations against Brux , Blechhammer , Moosbierbaum , Vienna , and Ploesti ; receiving a second DUC for a July 1944 bombing of Ploesti despite flak , clouds , smoke , and fighters . Also operated in support of ground forces and flew some interdictory missions . It hit artillery positions in support of the invasion of Southern France in August 1944 and flew supply missions to France in September . The group aided the Allied offensive in Italy in April 1945 by attacking gun emplacements and troop concentrations . After the German Capitulation , the 461st dropped supplies to prisoner - of - war camps in Austria during May 1945 . During its operations in the Mediterranean , the group suffered 108 aircraft lost in combat , and was credited with the destruction of 129 enemy aircraft . It dropped over 13 , 000 tons of bombs in over 46 , 000 hours of combat flying . The group was alerted for redeployment to the Pacific Theater in June 1945 and was programmed for Very Heavy bomber training with B - 29 Superfortress es . The unit returned to the United States in July ; many personnel being demobilized upon arrival . A small cadre formed at Sioux Falls Army Air Field , South Dakota and unit was awaiting new personnel and aircraft when the Japanese capitulation ended the Pacific War in August . The group was inactivated on 18 August . Tactical Air Command . The unit was reactivated as the 461st Bombardment Group , Light and assigned to the 461st Bombardment Wing . It was initially equipped with World War II era B - 26B Invader light bombers . This aircraft assignment was temporary until the unit received jet - powered Martin B - 57 Canberra s and moved to a permanent base at Blytheville AFB , Arkansas . After three years of service with the B - 57s the group was inactivated at the beginning of 1958 as TAC reorganized under the dual deputy system and its squadrons were transferred directly to the wing . Lineage . Awards and Campaigns . Manual campaign table