505th Command and Control Wing

The 505th Command and Control Wing (CCW) is the U.S Air Force’s only wing dedicated to operational-level command and control. The wing is made up of a diverse group of Airmen, civilians and contractors who work on many different tasks, but are all dedicated to taking testing, tactics, and training to the operational level by specializing in command and control in air, space, and cyberspace.  

MISSION

The mission of the 505th Command and Control Wing is to shape the way joint and coalition warfighters execute command and control of multi-domain operations through experimentation, training, testing, evaluation, exercises, and tactics development. 

VISION/PRIORITIES

The wing’s vision focuses on developing world-class joint and coalition warfighters to achieve and maintain command and control dominance in air, space, and cyberspace.  The 505 CCW achieves this vision by focusing on its three priorities: people, mission, and future.  The wing prioritizes taking care of Airmen and their families to deliver command and control dominance to win today and ensure command and control (C2) competitive advantages for tomorrow.  

ORGANIZATION

The 505th Command and Control Wing is headquartered at Hurlburt Field, Florida, but has several geographically separated units across the United States.  The 505 CCW reports to the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center (USAFWC), Nellis Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada, a direct reporting unit to Air Combat Command (ACC).  The wing is responsible for planning and executing multiple major exercise programs including BLUE FLAG and VIRTUAL FLAG on behalf of the Commander, Air Combat Command (COMACC).  The 505 CCW has two groups, eight squadrons, and one detachment executing its mission. 

The 505th Combat Training Group (CTG) headquartered at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, lives up to their mission to expertly and professionally conduct operational assessments/experimentation, develop advanced tactics, and train warfighters for multi-domain integration.  They accomplish their mission by being the Combat Air Forces’ recognized experts on integrating, experimenting, and evaluation command and control and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance weapons systems and sensors for combat employment within the Joint All-Domain construct.  The 505th Combat Training Group oversees operations of the 805th Combat Training Squadron, Nellis AFB, Nevada, the 505th Communications Squadron and the 505th Combat Training Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida, and the 705th Combat Training Squadron, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.

The 505th Test and Training Group (TTG), headquartered at Hurlburt Field, Florida, ensures dominance in any domain by providing the best systems, training, and tactics to joint and coalition forces.  Their mission focuses on conducting premier testing, evaluation, training, and tactics development across command and control, sensors, and battle management weapons systems.  The group oversees operations of the 705th Training Squadron, 605th Test and Evaluation Squadron, and 505th Training Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Florida, and the 84th Radar Evaluation Squadron at Hill AFB, Utah.

The 505th Command and Control Wing, Detachment 1 serves as the fundamental airpower advisor to the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command’s Combined Arms Center Mission Command Training Program located at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  The detachment accomplishes this mission by advising the commanding general and senior staff on all aspects of airpower, doctrine, and integration through the replication of the air component supporting service and joint campaign models and exercise scenarios.  The detachment additionally advises the Combined Arms Center of present and future weapons systems, capabilities, ordinance, tactics, procedures, and limitations as they influenced Army force structure, doctrine, concepts, training, modeling and simulation, acquisition, and analysis programs. 

PERSONNEL

The 505 CCW has approximately 189 enlisted, 184 officers, 428 civilians, and 280 contractors assigned.

HISTORY

The 505th Command and Control Wing traces its heritage back to the 505th Aircraft Control and Warning Group (505 ACWG) established on 2 May 1947 and activated on 21 May 1947 at McChord Field, Washington, under the Fourth Air Force. 

The group then moved to Silver Lake located in Everett, Washington, from 26 September 1949 through 24 June 1951 when it moved back to McChord AFB on 25 June through its inactivation on 6 February 1952.  During these last two moves the group was assigned to the 25th Air Division.  The initial mission of the 505 ACWG focused on ground control and radar intercept operations employing B-25 Mitchell bombers flying radar calibration flights in the Pacific Northwest.  In September 1949, the group shifted its focus to providing early warning systems, primarily consisting of the AN/TPS-1 system, contributing to the development of a nation-wide early warning radar network.

The expertise 505th Aircraft Control and Warning Group in radar systems led to the group’s reactivation and redesignation as  the 505 Tactical Control Group (505 TCG) on 2 November 1965 at Tan Son Nhut Airfield, South Vietnam, on 8 November 1965 where the group was assigned to the 2nd Air Division through 31 March 1966.  The group provided C2 for the tactical control system in Southeast Asia.  They accomplished this mission via numerous radar sites across South Vietnam and Thailand.  The 505 TCG consisted of the 619th and 620th Tactical Control Squadrons operating the various radar installations.  The group distinguished itself while supporting operations in Southeast Asia and earned sixteen campaign service streamers and five U.S. Air Force Outstanding Unit awards with Combat “V” devices.  The group was directly assigned to the Seventh Air Force from 1 April 1966 through the unit’s inactivation on 15 March 1973.      

On 1 November 1991 the 505th Tactical Control Group was consolidated with the 4442nd Tactical Control Group, which was established and activated on 1 March 1980.  This newly consolidated unit was designated the 505th Air Control Group (505 ACG) and assigned to Eglin’s Auxiliary Field #9, or Hurlburt Field (retroactive to the 4442nd’s activation on 1 March 1980) under the USAF Tactical Air Warfare center.  The group’s focus centered on managing command, control, and communications and intelligence (C3I) operations, operational testing, and evaluation of C3I tactical control elements.  The group also oversaw training on tactical air control elements and operated the USAF Air Ground Operations schoolhouse.  The 505 ACG was redesignated as the 505th Command and Control Evaluation Group (505 CCEG) on 15 April 1993.  During this period the group began operating the USAF Battlestaff Training School.  The group expanded its mission by inheriting an operating location at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, responsible for distributed mission operations.  The 505 CCEG realigned from the USAF Warfare Center to the Air and Space Command and Control Agency on 1 October 1997.   During 1998, the center began focusing on the importance of the air operations center (AOC) as a weapons system and began training personnel to staff and operate the AOC as a weapons system.  The group realigned from under the Aerospace Command Control and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Center back under the USAF Warfare Center on 30 April 2002.  

The USAF foresaw the growing importance of the group’s mission and elevated it to wing status as the 505th Command and Control Wing on 12 March 2004. 

 

505 CCW PUBLIC AFFAIRS (PA)

For more information about the 505th Command and Control Wing’s mission, contact the Public Affairs office at 850-884-9476 or debora.henley@us.af.mil.

(Current as of July 2020)

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