United States Air Force Warfare Center

United States Air Force Warfare Center
United States Air Force Warfare Center
	Emblem of the United States Air Force Warfare Center
Active	1966–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Warfare Training
Part of	Air Combat Command
Garrison/HQ	Nellis AFB, Nevada
Website	www.nellis.af.mil/Units/USAFWC/
Commanders
Commander	Maj Gen Christopher J. Niemi
Vice Commander	Brig Gen Jesse J. Friedel
Command Chief Master Sergeant	CCMSgt Emilio Hernandez

The United States Air Force Warfare Center (USAFWC) at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, reports directly to Air Combat Command. The center was founded on 1 September 1966, as the U.S. Air Force Tactical Fighter Weapons Center. It was renamed the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center in 2005.^[1]

A flight of Aggressor F-15 Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons fly in formation over the Nevada Test and Training Range

USAF Thunderbirds, part of the United States Air Force Warfare Center

An HH-60G Pave Hawk retrieves a pararescueman as an A-10 Thunderbolt II provides cover fire during a firepower demonstration on the Nellis bombing range.

Overview

The USAF Warfare Center manages advanced pilot training and integrates many of the Air Force's test and evaluation requirements. It was established in 1966 as the USAF Tactical Fighter Weapons Center which concentrated on the development of forces and weapons systems that were specifically geared to tactical air operations in conventional (non-nuclear) war and contingencies. It continued to perform this mission for nearly thirty years, undergoing several name changes in the 1990s. In 1991, the center became the USAF Fighter Weapons Center, and then the USAF Weapons and Tactics Center in 1992.^[1]

The USAF Warfare Center uses the lands and airspace of the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) – which occupies about three million acres (12,000 km²) of land, the largest such range in the United States, and another five-million-acre (20,000 km²) military operating area which is shared with civilian aircraft. The center also uses Eglin AFB, FL, range, which adds even greater depth to the center's capabilities, providing over water and additional electronic expertise to the center.^[1]

The USAF Warfare Center oversees operations of the 57th Wing, the NTTR, and the 99th Air Base Wings at Nellis AFB, Nevada; the 53d Wing (with Geographically Separated Units at Tyndall AFB, Florida and Holloman AFB, New Mexico) and 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing at Eglin AFB, Florida; and the 505th Command and Control Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida.^[1]

Units

53d Wing (53 WG)

The 53d Wing serves as the focal point for the combat air forces in electronic combat, armament and avionics, chemical defense, reconnaissance, command and control, and aircrew training devices.

57th Wing (57 WG)

The 57th Wing is responsible for a variety of activities, such as Red Flag, which provides realistic training in a combined air, ground and electronic threat environment for U.S. and allied forces. It is also the parent unit for both the USAF Weapons School (USAFWS) and the USAF Air Demonstration Squadron, the latter better known as the United States Air Force Thunderbirds.

Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR)

Previously known as the 98th Range Wing (98 RANW), the military organization known as NTTR provides command and control of the actual Nevada Test and Training Range facility located north and northwest of Nellis AFB. The 25th Space Range Squadron (SRS) operates and maintains the Space Test and Training Range and is a subordinate unit the NTTR.

99th Air Base Wing (99 ABW)

The 99th Air Base Wing is the host wing at Nellis AFB and manages the day-to-day operations of the base.

350th Spectrum Warfare Wing (350 SWW)

505th Command and Control Wing (505 CCW)

The 505 CCW is dedicated to improving warfighter readiness through integrated training, tactics, and testing for operational-level command and control of air, space, and cyber power. It hosts the Air Force's only Air Operations Center Formal Training Unit (FTU).^[1]

History

By the mid-1960s, USAF aircraft and aircrew losses in the Vietnam War had convinced Tactical Air Command (TAC) of the need to improve technical and operational skills for the widening conflict. TAC established the Tactical Fighter Weapons Center at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada in 1966 for the expressed purpose of improving fighter operations and tactics. Nellis AFB had been referred to as the "Home of the Fighter Pilot" since the Korean War period of the early 1950s, and had a long history of conducting postgraduate fighter training and operational testing and evaluation of fighter weapons systems. Additionally, the Nellis Range, largest in the free world, readily complemented the new center's mission.

Lineage

Established as the USAF Tactical Fighter Weapons Center in 1966

Redesignated: USAF Fighter Weapons Center in 1991

Redesignated: USAF Weapons and Tactics Center in 1992

Redesignated: USAF Warfare Center in 2005.

Assignments

Tactical Air Command, 1966 – 1992
Air Combat Command, 1992 – present

Units assigned

Operational units assigned to the USAFWC have been:^[2]

Wing

4545th Fighter Warfare Wing, 1966 – 22 August 1969
57th Fighter Weapons Wing (later 57th Tactical Training Wing, 57th Fighter Wing, 57th Wing), 22 August 1969 – present
350th Spectrum Warfare Wing - ?? - present

Groups

57th Fighter, 1 November 1991 – present
57th Test, 1 November 1991 – 1 October 1996
4440th Tactical Fighter Training (Red Flag)

Attached 1 October 1979 – 28 February 1980

Assigned 1 March 1980 – 1 November 1991

4443d Tactical Training: 26 January 1990 – 1 November 1991

Squadrons

64th Fighter Weapons (later, 64th Tactical Fighter Training Aggressor; 64th Aggressor): 15 October 1972 – 5 October 1990.
65th Fighter Weapons (later, 65th Tactical Fighter Training Aggressor; 65th Aggressor): 15 October 1969 – 7 April 1989.
66th Fighter Weapons: 15 October 1969 – 30 December 1981
414th Fighter Weapons: 15 October 1969 – 30 December 1981
422d Fighter Weapons (later, 422d Test and Evaluation): 15 October 1969 – 1 November 1991
431st Fighter Weapons (later, 431st Test and Evaluation): 1 October 1980 – 1 November 1991
433d Fighter Weapons: 1 October 1976 – 30 December 1981
4460th Helicopter: 1 November 1983 – 1 June 1985
4477th Test and Evaluation Flight (later, 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron): 1 April 1977 – 15 July 1990
USAF Air Demonstration Squadron: 15 February 1974 – present

Aircraft flown

A-7 Corsair II, 1969 – 1975
F-4 Phantom II, 1969 – 1985, 1992 – 2016

F-4G Wild Weasel, 1992 – 1995

QF-4 and QRF-4 Phantom II (Drone), 1993 – 2016

F-100 Super Sabre, 1969 – 1972

QF-100 Super Sabre (Drone), 1983 – 1993

F-105 Thunderchief, 1969 – 1975
QF-106 Delta Dart (Drone), 1991–1996
General Dynamics F-111, 1969 – 1995
T-38 Talon, 1972 – 1990
Northrop F-5, 1975 – 1989
UH-1 Iroquois, 1981 – 1985
B-1 Lancer, 1993 – 1999
B-52 Stratofortress, 1993 – 1999
MQ-1 Predator, 1995 – 2018

F-22 Raptor, 2004 – present
F-35 Lightning II, 2014 – present
F-15 Eagle, 1976 – present

F-15E Strike Eagle, 1992 – present

F-15EX Eagle II, 2021 – present

A-10 Thunderbolt II, 1977 – present
F-16 Fighting Falcon, 1980 – present
MQ-9 Reaper, 2007 – present

source^[2]

List of commanders

No.	Commander^[3]		Term
No.	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Duration
1		Major General Ralph G. Taylor Jr.	1 September 1966	15 December 1969	3 years, 82 days
2		Brigadier General Homer K. Hansen	22 November 1969	23 July 1971	1 year, 243 days
3		Major General William S. Chairsell	23 July 1971	29 June 1973	1 year, 341 days
4		Major General Gordon F. Blood	29 June 1973	10 February 1975	1 year, 226 days
5		Major General James A. Knight Jr.	10 February 1975	12 June 1977	2 years, 122 days
6		Major General James R. Hildreth	12 June 1977	30 March 1979	1 year, 291 days
7		Major General Robert E. Kelley	30 March 1979	3 June 1981	2 years, 65 days
8		Major General Jack I. Gregory	3 June 1981	11 May 1983	1 year, 342 days
9		Major General Eugene H. Fischer	11 May 1983	13 July 1985	2 years, 63 days
10		Major General Peter T. Kempf	13 July 1985	21 June 1988	2 years, 344 days
11		Major General Joseph W. Ashy	21 June 1988	19 July 1989	1 year, 28 days
12		Major General Billy G. McCoy	19 July 1989	5 June 1992	2 years, 322 days
13		Major General Thomas R. Griffith	5 June 1992	21 July 1994	2 years, 46 days
14		Major General Richard C. Bethurem	21 July 1994	4 April 1996	1 year, 258 days
15		Major General Marvin R. Esmond	4 April 1996	7 July 1998	2 years, 94 days
16		Major General Glen W. Moorhead III	7 July 1998	31 January 2000	1 year, 208 days
17		Major General Lawrence D. Johnston	31 January 2000	25 June 2002	2 years, 145 days
18		Major General Stephen G. Wood	25 June 2002	4 October 2004	2 years, 101 days
19		Major General Stephen M. Goldfein	4 October 2004	6 October 2006	2 years, 2 days
20		Major General R. Michael Worden	6 October 2006	8 February 2008	1 year, 125 days
21		Major General Stephen L. Hoog	8 February 2008	18 May 2009	1 year, 99 days
22		Major General Stanley T. Kresge^[4]	18 May 2009	November 2010	1 year, 167 days
22		Major General James W. Hyatt^[5]	November 2010	20 July 2012	1 year, 262 days
23		Major General Jeffrey G. Lofgren^[6]	20 July 2012	January 2014	1 year, 165 days
24		Major General Jay B. Silveria	21 February 2014	March 2016	2 years, 9 days
25		Major General Glen D. VanHerck	March 2016	13 July 2017	1 year, 134 days
26		Major General Peter E. Gersten^[7]	13 July 2017	2 June 2019	1 year, 324 days
-		Brigadier General David W. Snoddy Acting	2 June 2019	12 July 2019	40 days
27		Major General Charles Corcoran^[8]	12 July 2019	18 June 2021	1 year, 341 days
28		Major General Case Cunningham^[9]	18 June 2021	6 August 2024	3 years, 49 days
29		Major General Christopher J. Niemi	6 August 2024	Incumbent	135 days