Little Rock Air Force Base Little Rock Air Force Base ( AFB ) is a United States Air Force base located approximately northeast of Little Rock , Arkansas . Overview . Little Rock AFB is the C - 130 training base for the Department of Defense , training C - 130 pilots , navigators , flight engineers , and loadmasters from all branches of the US military in tactical airlift and aerial delivery . It is home to C - 130E , C - 130H and C - 130J aircraft , as well as the C - 130 Center of Excellence ( i . e . , schools for C - 130E / H and C - 130J crews ) . The host unit at Little Rock AFB is the 19th Airlift Wing ( 19 AW ) , assigned to the Air Mobility Command 21st Expeditionary Mobility Task Force . The wing provides the Department of Defense the largest C - 130 Hercules transport fleet in the world , supplying humanitarian airlift relief to victims of disasters , to airdropping supplies and troops into the heart of contingency operations in hostile areas . Other organizations at Little Rock AFB include the 189th Airlift Wing of the Arkansas Air National Guard , and the C - 130 division of the U . S . Air Force Weapons School . All of these organizations fly the C - 130 Hercules . Units . Little Rock Air Force Base is the home of the 19th Airlift Wing , the host unit . There are also two major associate units located here , the 314th Airlift Wing reports to Air Education and Training Command , and the C - 130 division of the U . S . Air Force Weapons School reports to Air Combat Command . Additionally , the 189th Airlift Wing of the Arkansas Air National Guard is located here . The 189th AW also reports to Air Education and Training Command . History . Little Rock Air Force Base was authorized in 1953 and opened on 24 January 1955 . Communications and several storage buildings , JATO facility , ordnance igloos , track and loading platform were completed by 30 June 1955 , and the base was opened to limited air traffic on 9 September 1955 . The base headquarters facility was accepted 31 January 1956 , and all runways and other operational concrete areas were completed by January 1957 . Construction of Little Rock Air Force Base began on 6 November 1953 and the base was officially activated by Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) on 1 August 1955 , hosting SAC ' s 384th Bombardment Wing ( 384 BMW ) flying the Boeing B - 47E Stratojet and the 70th Reconnaissance Wing ( 70 RW ) flying the RB - 47 Stratojet and KC - 97 Stratotanker . In 1960 , the Air Force announced that Little Rock Air Force Base would house 18 Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile s located throughout the state of Arkansas . In 1961 , the 70 RW was redesignated as the 70th Bombardment Wing ( Medium ) and converted to the B - 47 , but was inactivated the following year before being declared combat ready . In September 1962 , the 154th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron of the Arkansas Air National Guard relocated to Little Rock AFB and reorganized as the 189th Tactical Reconnaissance Group ( 189 TRG ) . In October , the 384 BMW deployed 11 B - 47 Stratojet aircraft to civilian municipal airports around the nation for dispersal alert purposes during the Cuban Missile Crisis . Also in 1962 , SAC established the 308th Strategic Missile Wing ( 308 SMW ) as the host organization for Little Rock AFB ' s Titan II missile operations , with the first of the Titan II missiles installed at a site in Searcy , Arkansas in February 1963 . In September 1964 , the 384 BW inactivated following the retirement of the B - 47 from front - line service in SAC . That same year , SAC ' s 43d Bombardment Wing transferred from Carswell AFB , Texas with its B - 58 Hustler aircraft . The 43 BW would continue to operate at Little Rock until the B - 58 ' s withdrawal from operational service in January 1970 . In June 1965 , Little Rock ' s 189 TRG became the first Air National Guard unit to operate the RF - 101 Voodoo and by December , had assumed the RF - 101 Replacement Training Unit ( RTU ) mission for the entire Air Force . The same year , the base and associated flying units also participated in various relief efforts such as a tornado that ripped through Conway , Arkansas in April and Hurricane Betsy in Louisiana in September . In the 1970s the base went through significant changes , with the first C - 130s arriving in March 1970 . On 31 March 1970 , Little Rock Air Force Base officially transferred from SAC to Tactical Air Command ( TAC ) , with TAC ' s 314th Tactical Airlift Wing ( 314 TAW ) taking over host wing responsibilities . Although SAC ' s 308 SMW and its Titan II ICBMs continued to be a major tenant , the base ' s primary mission became C - 130 tactical airlift operations and training , with two operational C - 130 squadrons assigned and two C - 130 training squadrons assigned . In 1974 , following the divestiture of C - 130 tactical airlift aircraft from TAC , both the 314 TAW and Little Rock AFB transferred from TAC control to that of the Military Airlift Command ( MAC ) . On 1 January 1976 , the 189 TRG transferred being a TAC - gained unit to a SAC - gained unit when it converted to the KC - 135 Stratotanker and was redesignated the 189th Air Refueling Group ( 189 ARG ) , becoming one of the first Air National Guard units to be assigned to Strategic Air Command with a concomitant requirement to maintain a 24 - hour alert force at Little Rock as well as deployments to support worldwide tanker task forces . On September 18 , 1980 an airman conducting maintenance on a USAF Titan - II missile at Little Rock Air Force Base ' s Launch Complex 374 - 7 in Southside ( Van Buren County ) , just north of Damascus , Arkansas , dropped a socket which fell impacting the rocket ' s first stage fuel tank resulting in a leak . In response , evacuations were made in the area . On September 19 , 1980 , the leaking fuel exploded . The force of the blast resulted in the W53 warhead being hurled about from the launch complex ' s entry gate ; its safety features operated correctly and prevented any loss of radioactive material . An Air Force airman was killed and the launch complex was destroyed . On 1 October 1986 , the 189 ARG saw yet another mission change when it was redesignated as the 189th Tactical Airlift Group ( 189 TAG ) and converted to the C - 130 aircraft , with transfer of operational claimancy to MAC . During the 1991 Gulf War , the 314 TAW ' s two operational C - 130 squadrons and the 189 TAG ' s C - 130 squadron supported operations from both the middle east and European theaters . Later that year , the 314th Tactical Airlift Wing was redesignated as the 314th Airlift Wing ( 314 AW ) , and following the disestablishment of MAC in 1992 , the base and the 314 AW were transferred to the new Air Mobility Command ( AMC ) . The 189 TAG was also redesignated as the 189th Airlift Group ( 189 AG ) the same year , followed by redesignation as the 189th Airlift Wing ( 189 AW ) in 1995 . In 1993 , the base and the 314 AW transferred to Air Combat Command ( ACC ) , as part the U . S . Air Force ' s decision to transfer continental U . S . based C - 130s from AMC to ACC . In 1997 , the U . S . Air Force reversed this decision , returning most C - 130 airlift back to AMC claimancy . However , given the 314 AW ' s primary training mission as the Formal Training Unit ( FTU ) for C - 130s , the base and the 314 AW were transferred to the Air Education and Training Command ( AETC ) , and the base ' s two operational Regular Air Force C - 130 squadrons were organized under the 463d Airlift Group , an AMC unit . From the mid - 1990s to the late 1990s , the 314 AW and the 463 AG supported the air war over Serbia and since the September 11 , 2001 attacks , the 463 AG has supported both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom . In its 50 - year history , Little Rock Air Force Base has been operated by six Air Force Major Commands ( MAJCOMs ) : SAC , TAC , MAC , AMC , ACC , and AETC . These represent every possible MAJCOM a continental U . S . based operational flying base could have been assigned to except for the former Air Defense Command / Aerospace Defense Command and Air Force Global Strike Command . In 2012 , First Lady Michelle Obama visited the Little Rock base to mark the second anniversary of the Let ' s Move initiative .