United States Air Forces in Europe
U.S. Air Forces in Europe, headquartered at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, is a major command of the U.S. Air Force. It is also the air component of the U.S. European Command, a Department of Defense unified command and the U.S. component of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
More than 35,000 active-duty, reserve and civilian employees are assigned to USAFE. Equipment assets include about 225 fighter, attack, tanker and transport aircraft, and a full complement of conventional weapons. USAFE is organized geographically through two numbered air forces -- 3rd Air Force, headquartered at RAF Mildenhall, England; and 16th Air Force, headquartered at Aviano Air Base, Italy. The command has fourteen installations, six of which are main operating bases - Royal Air Force Bases Lakenheath and Mildenhall in England; Ramstein and Spangdahlem Air Bases in Germany; Aviano AB in Italy, and Incirlik AB in Turkey.
As the face of Europe has changed since the fall of the Berlin Wall, USAFE has changed as well. USAFE has transitioned from a fight-in-place fighter force postured for a large-scale conflict, to an Air Expeditionary Force with a mobile and deployable mix of people and resources that can simultaneously operate in multiple locations. Since the end of the Cold War, USAFE's role in Europe and Africa has expanded from warfighting to a mission that includes supporting humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, as well as other non-traditional contingencies throughout its area of responsibility.
In peacetime, USAFE trains and equips U.S. Air Force units pledged to NATO. USAFE plans, conducts, controls, coordinates and supports air and space operations to achieve U.S. national and NATO objectives based on taskings by the commander in chief, United States European Command. In wartime, USAFE assets, augmented by people, aircraft and equipment from other major commands, and the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, come under the operational command of NATO. The command's inventory of aircraft is ready to perform close air support, air interdiction, air defense, in-flight refueling, long-range transport and support of maritime operations.
In fulfilling its NATO responsibilities, USAFE maintains combat-ready wings dispersed from Great Britain to Turkey. The command supports U.S. military plans and operations in Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and parts of Africa. USAFE remains a formidable force in Europe despite a rapid drawdown that saw its main operating bases cut by 67 percent following the end of the Cold War. As witnessed in the command's support of contingency and humanitarian operations throughout Europe and parts of Africa, USAFE remains a highly responsive combat command with a strong, capable force.
USAFE originated as the 8th Air Force in 1942 and flew heavy bombardment missions over the European continent during World War II. In August 1945, the command was given its current name, U.S. Air Forces in Europe. During the Berlin Airlift, USAFE airlifted more than 2.3 million tons of food, fuel and medical supplies with the aid of the U.S. Navy and the British Royal Air Force. With the formation of NATO in 1949, the United States was committed to help defend Western Europe and USAFE again strengthened its airpower.
By the end of 1951, the command's responsibilities had expanded in Europe and eventually to French Morocco, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Turkey, Italy and Spain. The increased responsibilities led to far reaching changes, including a major reorganization in 1967 when France withdrew from the NATO military command structure, forcing all foreign troops to leave.
In March 1973, Headquarters USAFE transferred from Lindsey Air Station, Wiesbaden, West Germany, to Ramstein Air Base. In June 1974, NATO's Allied Air Forces Central Europe was established at Ramstein, and the USAFE commander assumed a dual-hatted role, taking command of AIRCENT in addition to commanding U.S. Air Force units in Europe. Today, AIRCENT is called AIR NORTH.
The Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, ratified in 1988, mandated the first ever elimination of an entire class of weapons from U.S. and Soviet inventories. USAFE completed removal of its ground launched cruise missiles and other weaponry in March 1991, when the last 16 missiles were removed from Comiso Air Station, Italy.
Beginning in late 1990, USAFE mobilized and moved more than 180 aircraft and 5,400 people to the Persian Gulf area in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. In addition, 100 aircraft and 2,600 personnel were deployed to Turkey for Operation Proven Force, which denied the Iraqis a safe haven for their military forces in northern Iraq. USAFE also activated aeromedical staging facilities and contingency hospitals. More than 9,000 patients, mostly suffering from noncombat-related illnesses and injuries, were evacuated to Europe and more than 3,000 were treated at USAFE medical facilities.
After Desert Storm, USAFE provided immediate emergency relief to Kurdish refugees fleeing Iraqi forces by implementing Operation Provide Comfort, a no-fly zone enforcement over northern Iraq. As the initial Operation Provide Comfort drew to a close, Kurdish leaders asked for continued protection. Operation Provide Comfort continues today with USAFE maintaining a deterrent presence in Turkey.
Since the Gulf War, USAFE has been operating at a rapid pace to save lives and meet the demands of real-world contingencies at hot spots throughout the European and African theater. This frequently puts the command's troops on the road supporting critical operations in northern and southern Iraq, the former Yugoslavia, Somalia, Rwanda and a host of other locations. USAFE has participated in several major humanitarian efforts, including Provide Hope I and II, which airlifted food and medical supplies to the people of the former Soviet Union, and Provide Promise, the airlifting of supplies into a war-torn Yugoslavia from July 1992 until December 1995. Following 16 years of civil war in Angola, USAFE provided airmen and C-130 aircraft for Operation Provide Transition, which relocated government and rebel soldiers within the country in a United Nations effort to support democratic elections.
USAFE also provided air protection over the skies of Bosnia-Herzegovina in Operation Deny Flight. Along with allies from NATO countries, USAFE aircrews applied airpower in Operation Deliberate Force, the bombing campaign that paved the way for the Dayton Peace Agreement. USAFE's application of its diverse air assets delivered peace Implementation Force people and equipment for Operation Joint Endeavor and maintained sustaining airlift for the operation.
USAFE forces again mobilized in March 1999 when a new threat to peace and stability emerged in the Balkans. Serbian forces loyal to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic invaded the Yugoslav Province of Kosovo in an effort to systematically remove the province's ethnic Albanian majority. Efforts to find a diplomatic solution collapsed, resulting in Operation Allied Force - the NATO-led air war over Kosovo. During the air war, U.S. air forces fell under the control of USAFE's 16th Air Force. The 78-day operation ended June 20, culminating in the retreat of Serbian forces from Kosovo and the eventual return of refugees to their homeland. USAFE's 3rd Air Force led the humanitarian leg of Operation Allied Force during the air war. Headquartered at Einseidlerhof Air Station, Germany, Joint Task Force Shining Hope was established to help with the mass exodus of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo. The joint U.S. military operation supported international humanitarian relief efforts directed at Kosovo refugees in Albania and the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. Camp Hope, the only U.S.-built Kosovar refugee camp, was established in Tirana, Albania, and eventually turned over to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees towards the end of the campaign.
In February 2000, USAFE forces again responded to a humanitarian crisis, this time in southern Africa. Operation Atlas Response was established to airlift aid to victims of massive floods in Mozambique and other nearby South African countries. Working with international relief agencies, Joint U.S. forces participating in the operation assisted with a variety of humanitarian-related activities, including the airlift of food and medical supplies, aerial surveillance and rescue operations in the region.
USAFE flew combat sorties in support of OIF/OEF, JTF Liberia, and Balkans operations. USAFE provided an aeromedical evacuation capability that moved OEF/OIF patients out of CENTCOM, and transported patients all over Europe. USAFE has been in the front lines of the Global War on Terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001. During Operation Enduring Freedom, it supported an air bridge from Europe to Asia that delivered 3,300 tons of humanitarian daily rations to northern Afghanistan, opened a base in Kyrgystan for coalition forces, and established a medical evacuation network that moved nearly 4,000 patients. USAFE deployed 24 fighter aircraft, eight KC-135 tankers and nearly 2,400 people in Operation Iraqi Freedom. It opened an important airfield in northern Iraq and provided critical en route support to deploying forces, not to mention vital logistical and medical support to forward-deployed forces.
During 2003 USAFE focused on several major endeavors: development of a strategy for U.S. Air Forces in Europe for the next decade, reorganization of USAFE HQ, the theater engagement plan, and a measurement system to track our progress. USAFE’s strategic presence and unparalleled readiness are key enablers, and the thrust behind the Air Force strategy for Europe. Based on national, joint, and USAF strategies and visions, USAFE's new strategic plan centers on four primary principles: an ability to influence global actions; readiness; theater engagement; and an ability to retain a leadership role in NATO. USAFE efforts embody these principles and ensure that forces are ready to meet the challenges of the future.
During 2003 the USAFE HQ was reorganized by divesting it of those non-management HQ functions that had been attached -- some 1,000 personnel / functions realigned from the strategic level to either the operational level or tactical level. USAFE also identified those functions that could be streamlined by using reach-back to CONUS services, resulting in a significant number of functions migrating back to parent commands or HQ Air Force. These actions permit our HQ to more clearly focus on its mission -- to provide policy, oversight, and evaluations on command units.
