21st Space Wing: Difference between revisions

21st Space Wing
Active	November 15, 1952
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Space Control
Part of	Air Force Space Command
Garrison/HQ	Peterson AFB
Motto(s)	FORTITUDO ET PREPARATIO - Strength and Preparedness
Commanders
Current commander	Col. Jay G. Santee

The 21st Space Wing^[1] is a unit of the Air Force Space Command based at Peterson Air Force Base^[2], Colorado. The unit is tasked with the operation of early missile warning and space object detection equipment around the world in support of NORAD^[3] and USSTRATCOM^[4] through a network of command and control units and ground based sensors operated by geographically separated units around the world.

The Wing’s services include more than 9,000 government and contractor personnel detect, track and catalog more than 14,000 catalogued man-made objects in space, from those in near-Earth orbit to objects up to 22,300 miles above the earth's surface and explores counterspace warfighting technologies in the field.

Conduct world class space superiority operations and provide unsurpassed installation support and protection while deploying Warrior Airmen.

The 21 SW operate and maintain a complex system of U.S. and foreign-based radars that detect and track ballistic missile launches, launches of new space systems, and provide data on foreign ballistic missile events through its communication and control with CMAS, TABG, CAFS, and CCAFS.

Ballistic missile warning allows the US to monitor at least 20 nations currently have nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, and the technology to deliver them over long distances, including some with the ability to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles at the United States.

The 21st Operations Group manages all operation units in the 21st Space Wing.

The Wing's ground-based radars are comprised of a sea-launched ballistic missile or SLBM, the PAVE PAWS warning system; a Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, or BMEWS; and a Perimeter Attack Radar Characterization System, or PARCS.

SLBM warning units are the 6th SWS, Cape Cod AFS, Mass., and the 7th SWS, Beale AFB, Calif. Their mission is mainly to watch America's coasts for incoming sea-launched or intercontinental ballistic missiles, and warn NORAD and NORTHCOM.

The wing's two BMEWS radar units are the 2th Space Warning Squadron, Thule AB, and the 13th Space Warning Squadron at Clear AFS. The 21st SW also has a detachment at RAF Fylingdales, U.K., to coordinate cooperative missile warning and space surveillance with RAF counterparts.

The wing's PARCS unit is the 10th Space Warning Squadron, Cavalier AFS, N.D.

Space surveillance is a critical element of the space control mission and will be vitally important to support future theater missile operations and assured availability of U.S. space forces. As part of the space surveillance mission, the wing operates surveillance units. More than 9,500 manmade objects in orbit around the earth, ranging in size from a baseball to the Mir Space Station, are regularly tracked. Knowing the orbits of those objects is essential to prevent collisions when a new satellite is launched.

The 20th Space Control Squadron, Eglin AFB, Fla., provides dedicated active radar space surveillance. In addition, other collateral and contributing missile warning and research radars are used to support the surveillance mission.

Besides the three major commands, the Wing directs and supports Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station (CMAFS); Thule Air Base (TABG), Greenland; Clear AFS (CAFS), Alaska, and Cape Cod AFS (CCAFS), Mass. The 21st also provides community support to 302d Airlift Wing (CANG), the 50th Space Wing, Schriever AFB, Colo and to its neighbors in the Colorado Springs area.

• 21st Maintenance Group
  The 21st Maintenance Group commander is responsible for the hardware and software maintenance at 27 missile warning, space surveillance and satellite communications sensor sites, as well as supply, transportation, traffic management and precision measurement equipment laboratory support for Peterson and Schriever Air Force bases, and Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station.
  • 21st Space Communications Squadron
  • Detachment 1, 21st Maintenance Group
  • 21st Maintenance Operations Flight
  • 21st Space Management Flight

• 21st Operations Group
  The mission of the 21st OG as Air Force Space Command's largest, most weapon-system diverse, and geographically separated operations group is to command and control 19 units. The group provides real-time missile warning, attack assessment, and space control to the President, Secretary of Defense, JCS, combatant commands, and foreign allies. They develop future combat counterspace capabilities in support of theater campaigns.

  SPACE WARNING SQUADRONS

  • 6th Space Warning Squadron - Cape Cod AFS, Mass.
  • 7th Space Warning Squadron - Beale AFB, Calif.
  • 10th Space Warning Squadron - Cavalier AFS, N.D.
  • 12th Space Warning Squadron - Thule AB, Greenland
  • 13th Space Warning Squadron - Clear AFS, Alaska
  • Royal Air Force Fylingdales - United Kingdom

    SPACE CONTROL SQUADRONS

  • 4th Space Control Squadron - Holloman AFB, N.M
  • Det 1, 21st Operations Group - White Sands, N.M.
  • Det 2, 21st Operations Group - Diego Garcia
  • Det 3, 21st Operations Group - Hickam AFB, Hawaii
  • Det 4, 21st Operations Group - Moron AB, Spain
  • 16th Space Control Squadron - Peterson AFB, Colo.
  • 20th Space Control Squadron - Eglin AFB, Fla.
  • 20th Space Control Squadron, Det. 1 - Dahlgren, Va.
  • 76th Space Control Squadron - Peterson AFB, Colo.

• 21st Medical Group
  The 21st Medical Group commander is responsible for protecting the health and environment of the warriors who defend the United States through the control and exploitation of space, educated, train and deploy medical personnel, and provide caring and efficient primary health care to retirees and family members.

• 21st Mission Support Group
  The 21st MSG is made up of the people who make sure the base runs smoothly and effectively. They pay the bills, make sure the base stays secure, oversee the telephone services, keep the facilities in good condition, keep the records and take care of the well–being of all the people stationed in the Peterson Complex.
  • 21st Mission Support Squadron
  • 21st Security Forces Squadron
  • 21st Services Squadron
  • 21st Civil Engineering Squadron
  • 21st Contracting Squadron
  • 21st Logistics Readiness Squadron

• 721st Mission Support Group
  The 721st Mission Support Group, located at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, operates, maintains, secures, sustains, mobilizes, tests, and controls the worldwide warning and surveillance system for North America, normally referred to as the Integrated Tactical Warning and Attack Assessment (ITW/AA) weapon system. It consists of airborne, land-based and space-based systems which sense and report on all activities in air and space.

• 821st Air Base Group
  The mission of the 821st Air Base Group is to operate and maintain Thule Air Base, Greenland, in support of missile warning and space surveillance operations missions. Provide security, communications, civil engineering, personnel, services, logistics and medical support to remote active duty units in a combined US, Canadian, Danish and Greenlandic environment of more than 800 military, civilian and contractor personnel.

• Established as 21 Bombardment Group (Medium) on 13 Jan 1942. Activated on 1 Feb 1942.
• Disestablished on 10 Oct 1946.
• Established as 21 Fighter-Bomber Wing on 15 Nov 1952. Activated on 1 Jan 1953.
• Inactivated on 8 Feb 1958.
• Redesignated 21 Tactical Fighter Wing on 19 May 1958. Activated on 1 Jul 1958.
• Discontinued, and inactivated, on 18 Jun 1960.
• Redesignated 21 Composite Wing, and activated, on 6 May 1966. Organized on 8 Jul 1966.
• Redesignated: 21 Tactical Fighter Wing on 1 Oct 1979; 21 Wing on 26 Sep 1991.
• Inactivated on 19 Dec 1991.
• Redesignated 21 Space Wing on 1 May 1992. Activated on 15 May 1992.

Constituted as 21st Fighter Group on 31 Mar 1944. Activated in Hawaii on 21 Apr 1944.

Assigned to Seventh AF and served as part of the defense force for the Hawaiian Islands. Equipped first with P-39, later with P-38, and still later (Jan 1945) with P-51 aircraft.

Moved to Iwo Jima, Feb-Mar 1945. Sustained some casualties when Japanese troops attacked the group's camp on the night of 26/27 Mar 1945, but flew first combat mission the following day, bombing and strafing airfields on Haha Jima. Flew its first mission to Japan on 7 Apr, being awarded a DUC for escorting B-29's that struck the heavily-defended Nakajima aircraft factory near Tokyo. Operations from Iwo Jima included attacking airfields that the enemy was using to launch suicide planes against the Allied forces on Okinawa; striking enemy barracks, airfields, and shipping in the Bonins and Japan; and escorting B-29's that bombed Japanese cities. Assigned to Twentieth AF during the summer of 1945.

Trained, participated in aerial reviews, and served as a part of the defense force for Iwo Jima, Saipan, and Guam after the war. Re-equipped with P-47's during the summer of 1946.

Inactivated on Guam on 10 Oct 1946.

Redesignated 21st Fighter-Bomber Group. Activated in the US on 1 Jan 1953. Assigned to Tactical Air Command. Equipped for a few months with F-51's, later with F-86's. Maintained tactical proficiency and provided air defense augmentation in the United States, Jan 1953-Nov 1954.

Moved to France, Nov-Dec 1954, and became part of the NATO defense forces in Europe, performing special weapons tactical operations, Dec 1954-Jan 1958.

Participated in numerous actual and simulated tactical air operations and provided air defense augmentation in Japan and Korea, Jul 1958-Jun 1960.

In 1966, assumed air defense responsibility for Alaska and contiguous areas in support of North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) and Aerospace Defense Command (ADCOM) through the Alaskan NORAD Region and ADCOM Region. Provided support for multi-service special operations in arctic regions and participated in numerous search and rescue efforts, 1966-1991. Maintained air defense and alert forces at forward operating bases in Galena and King Salmon, AK, 1977-1991. In 1978-1979 lent humanitarian support and assistance to Vietnamese refugees relocating to Canada.

From 1992, provided command management of Air Force Space Command's worldwide network of assigned missile warning, space surveillance, and communications units.

• Twentieth Air Force

• 21st Space Wing website