Ninth Air Force

The Ninth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC). It has been headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, since activation on 5 August 2009. Ninth Air Force was previously a numbered air force activated during the Second World War. For decades, Ninth Air Force supervised tactical fighter units on the U.S. East Coast. From 1983, it became the air force component of United States Central Command. From 1990, units were deployed to the Middle East against Iraq, and from 2001 against threats emanating from Afghanistan. In this role, the organization was known as United States Air Forces Central (USAFCENT).

Until August 2009, Ninth Air Force shared its commander with USAFCENT. In a complicated transfer of lineage, the Second World War-and after heritage of Ninth Air Force was bestowed solely on United States Air Forces Central, and a new Ninth Air Force, which technically had no previous history, was activated on the U.S. East Coast.

This article deals with the current organization, as the lineage of the previous organization currently belongs to USAFCENT.

Lineage

 * Established as Ninth Air Force on 4 August 2009
 * Activated on 5 August 2009

Assignments

 * Air Combat Command, 5 August 2009–present

Major components
The command is responsible for the organizing, training, and equipping eight active duty wings and two direct reporting units. These eight wings are:


 * 1st Fighter Wing, Joint Base Langley–Eustis, Virginia
 * 4th Fighter Wing, Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina
 * 20th Fighter Wing, Shaw AFB, South Carolina
 * 23d Wing, Moody AFB, Georgia
 * 93d Air-Ground Operations Wing, Moody AFB, Georgia
 * 325th Fighter Wing, Tyndall AFB, Florida
 * 461st Air Control Wing, Robins AFB, Georgia
 * 495th Fighter Group
 * 633d Air Base Wing, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia

Supervised non-flying direct reporting units include:


 * 819th Red Horse Squadron, Malmstom AFB, Montana
 * 823d Red Horse Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida

The Ninth Air Force is also responsible for overseeing the operational readiness of 30 designated units of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve.