Air control wings partner under active association construct

  • Published
  • By André Kok
  • Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFNS) --  The chief of staff of the Air Force recently designated the 116th Air Control Wing here as an active association wing.

The newly designated active association also establishes the 461st ACW as the regular Air Force associate wing. The 116th ACW will become the Air National Guard host wing. Together, these two wings will continue to accomplish the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System 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. "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."

Colonel Herd will be the future 461st ACW commander.

Department of Defense officials originally designated the 116th ACW as a blended wing in 2002. Since that time, Air Force officials have 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 ACW.

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 weapons systems but shares the mission with the regular Air Force associate wing.

The ANG wing commander maintains administrative control over the Air guardsmen assigned, while the regular Air Force wing commander maintains administrative control over the active-duty Airmen assigned.

"The 116th ACW and 461th ACW will be the same team we have today," said Col. William Welsh, the 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."