157th Air Operations Group
The United States Air Force's 157th Air Operations Group is an Air Operations Center manning unit located at Jefferson Barracks National Guard Base in St Louis, Missouri. The unit is geographically-separated from its supporting unit, the Missouri Air National Guard's 131st Bomb Wing. Mission. The 157 Air Operations Group responds to operational requirements within the Headquarters Pacific Air Forces (HQ PACAF) area of responsibility, which covers an area from the east coast of Africa to the west coast of the Americas. Operations. The group mans an Air Operations Center (AOC), the senior element  of the Theater Air Control System using the AN/USQ-163 Falconer. An AOC is the command and control center that plans, executes and assesses aerospace operations during a contingency or conflict. The AOC plans and executes missions by theater aerospace forces for Joint Forces Air Component Commanders. The AOC enables Joint Forces Air Component Commanders to exercise command and control of aerospace forces in support of a Joint Force Commander. An AOC consists of a large number of related systems which interoperate to plan, conduct, and monitor the air and space war. History. World War II. The 157th Air Operations  Group was first organized in the Signal Corps on 15 January 1944 as the 582d Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion. The battalion served in the Mediterranean and European Theater of Operations as an element of Twelfth and Ninth Air Forces. The battalion was organized in Italy, primarily from elements of the provisional 2691 Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion (Mobile) and 732d through 734th Signal Aircraft Warning Companies that had been attached to it, which were simultaneously disbanded. The battalion operations were conducted by radar operating detachments, which frequently moved. Elements of the battalion participated in Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France . Following V-E Day, the battalion remained in Germany as part of the occupation forces until it was inactivate, along with its component companies, on 7 November 1945. This was a period of personnel turmoil, with most experienced members of the unit being transferred to other units for return to the United States, being replaced by "low point" men who were late arrivals to the theater. On 22 October, the battalion was reduced to nominal strength of one officer and one airman, who were transferred to the 555th Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion when the 582d was inactivated. Air National Guard . The battalion was converted to the Air Corps, redesignated the 157th Aircraft Control and Warning Group and allotted to the National Guard in May 1946. It was organized in the Missouri National Guard later that year, but did not receive federal recognition until 1948. The group was mobilized for the Korean War in the fall of 1951 and served at Alexandria Air Force Base, where it was released from active duty on 1 November 1953. It was redesignated the 157th Tactical Control Group in 1952 and its mission changed from air defense to control of tactical strike aircraft. The group  was activated the same day in the Missouri Air National Guard. It became the "157th Air Control Group in 1992 and the 157th Air Operations Group"' in 2001. The group's initial mobilization gaining command was Tactical Air Command In 2016 the 157th Air Operations Group converted from a non-traditional Group -> Division organization into a traditional Group -> Squadron organization. With such, new squadron commanders were designated for the newly established 157 Combat Operations Squadron (COS), 157th Air Intelligence Squadron (AIS), and the 157th Air Communications Squadron (ACOMS). All of which will report to the 157th Air Operations  Group Commander. Also in 2016, the 157th Air Operations Group gained an additive mission set supporting U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command and the 608th Air Operations Center located at Barksdale AFB, LA. Once fully operational, the additive unit will be known as the 257th Combat Operations Flight. The unit's Commander reports directly to the Commander, 157th Air Operations Group.