WASHINGTON, - The chief of staff of the Air Force recently designated the 116th Air Control Wing (ACW) at Robins Air Force Base as an “active association” wing.
The newly designated “active association” also establishes the 461st ACW as the regular Air Force “associate” wing. Together, the two wings will continue to accomplish the critical Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) mission.
There will be no change to manning or aircraft levels due to this administrative change.
“The active association construct will ensure the JSTARS team is in compliance with Air Force guidance,” said Col. Jeffrey Herd, the current 116th ACW commander, who will be the future 461st ACW commander. “The 461st ACW and 116th ACW team along with our joint partners in the 138th (Military Intelligence) Company will continue to deliver JSTARS combat capability in support of the combatant commanders.”
The Department of Defense originally designated the 116th ACW as a “blended wing” in 2002.
Since that time, the Air Force has developed standard constructs for Total Force Integration to improve unity of effort and leverage the collective strengths of the active and reserve components. These standards led to the designation of an active association construct for the 116th.
The “blended wing” construct integrated Air National Guard and active duty Airmen within the same unit and introduced an alternating regular Air Force and Air National Guard commander and vice commander rotation every two years.
The “active association” construct establishes both an Air National Guard wing and a regular Air Force wing, working side-by-side, to accomplish a unified mission.
The Air National Guard unit serves as the “host” wing and maintains primary responsibility for weapon systems but shares the mission with the regular Air Force “associate” wing.
The ANG wing commander maintains administrative control over the Air Guardsmen assigned to the unit, while the regular Air Force wing commander maintains administrative control over the active duty Airmen assigned to the unit.
“The 116th ACW and 461th ACW will be the same team we have today,” said Col. William Welsh, 116th ANG element commander and future 116th ACW commander. “We will strive to make this transition as seamless as possible. Most individuals working in the wing should not notice a difference in their day to day operations.”