310th Space Wing

310th Space Wing
A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket blasts off with the Air Force’s Global Positioning System IIR-21 satellite from Space Launch Complex-17A
Active	1942–1945; 1946–1949; 1952–1965; 1991–1993; 1997–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Wing
Role	Space Operations
Part of	Air Force Reserve Command
Garrison/HQ	Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado
Engagements	European-African-Middle Eastern Theater
Insignia
310th Space Wing emblem (Modified 26 December 2000)[1]
310th Bombardment Wing emblem (Original form, approved 7 January 1954)[2]

The 310th Space Wing is an Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to the Tenth Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, stationed at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado. The wing is the only space wing in the Air Force Reserve. It provides specialized expertise, continuity and combat ready personnel. It is mission partnered with several United States Space Force deltas: Space Delta 2, Space Delta 3, Space Delta 4, and Space Launch Delta 30.^{[citation needed]}

The wing is commanded by Colonel James R. Taggart. Its Command Chief is Chief Master Sergeant Sarah A. Faith.^[3]

The wing dates back to World War II, when it began as the 310th Bombardment Group on 15 March 1942, flying North American B-25 Mitchell medium bombers. In October 1942, the 310th was the first 12th Air Force group sent overseas, initially to England and then to French Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, France, and Italy where it participated in the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign.^[4] The 310th Bombardment Group was inactivated in September 1945.

The 310th Bombardment Wing was reactivated in 1952 as part of Strategic Air Command. It trained on the Boeing B-29 Superfortress before converting to the Boeing B-47 Stratojet. It was inactivated in June 1965 with the phaseout of the B-47 from the U.S. Air Force inventory.

The 310th became part of Air Force Space Command in 1991 when the 310th Training and Test Wing was activated for a short time at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.; the 310th designator was again activated with the stand up of the 310th Space Group on 4 September 1997. The 310th Space Group was re-designated the 310th Space Wing on 7 March 2008.

The wing is composed of the 310th Operations Group, 710th Operations Group, and 310th Mission Support Group, that support various military and other government organizations including, but not limited to, the Department of Commerce, United States Space Force, Space Operations Command, 50th Space Wing, 21st Space Wing, and 460th Space Wing.

• 310th Operations Group
  • 6th Space Operations Squadron (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program backup for NOAA)
  • 7th Space Operations Squadron (associate unit to 1st Space Operations Squadron)
  • 9th Combat Operations Squadron (supports the Combined Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Space Force Base)
  • 19th Space Operations Squadron (associate unit to 2 SOPS)
  • 310th Operations Support Squadron (provides operations support and applicable program oversight to the space operations squadrons)
• 710th Operations Group
  • 380th Space Control Squadron (associate unit to 16th Space Control Squadron at Peterson Space Force Base)^[5]
  • 8th Space Warning Squadron (operates Space-Based Infrared System at Buckley Space Force Base)
  • Detachment 1 8th Space Warning Squadron
  • 428th Electromagnetic Warfare Flight (Associate unit to the 4 EWS at Peterson SFB)
• 310th Mission Support Group
  • 310th Security Forces Squadron
  • 710th Security Forces Squadron
  • 310th Force Support Squadron
  • 310th Communications Flight (associate unit to 561st Network Operations Squadron (INOSC West) at Peterson Space Force Base)^[6]
• Reserve National Security Space Institute (associate unit to the NSSI)

The unit was constituted as the 310th Bombardment Group (Medium) on 28 January 1942 and activated on 15 March 1942. Used B-25s in preparing for duty overseas.

Moved to the Mediterranean theater by single aircraft between October 1942 and March 1943 and assigned to Twelfth Air Force. Sufficient aircraft were on hand by 2 December, when it conducted its first operation against antiaircraft concentrations at Gabes, Tunisia. Engaged primarily in support and interdictory operations in Tunisia, Sicily, Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, and southern France. The 310th Bomb Group also flew some missions to Austria and Yugoslavia.

The unit attacked harbors and shipping to help defeat Axis forces in North Africa, December 1942 – May 1943. Bombed airdromes, landing grounds, and gun emplacements on Pantelleria, Lampedusa, and Sicily, May–July 1943. The unit supported the Allied landing at Salerno, September 1943. Assisted the drive toward Rome, January–June 1944.

Supported the invasion of Southern France, August 1944. Struck German communications— bridges, rail lines, marshalling yards, viaducts, tunnels, and road junctions in Italy, August 1943 – April 1945. Also dropped propaganda leaflets behind enemy lines.

The 310th Bomb Group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for a mission to Italy on 27 August 1943 when, in spite of persistent attacks by enemy interceptors and antiaircraft artillery, the group effectively bombed marshalling yards at Benevento and also destroyed a number of enemy planes. Received second DUC for another mission in Italy on 10 March 1945 when the group, maintaining a compact formation in the face of severe antiaircraft fire, bombed the railroad bridge at Ora, a vital link in the German supply line.

The 310th Bomb Group was inactivated in Italy on 12 September 1945.

The unit was redesignated the 310th Bombardment Group, Light and allotted to the reserve. Activated in the US on 27 December 1946. Inactivated on 27 June 1949.

The 310th Bombardment Wing was activated in 1952 as a Strategic Air Command unit, receiving Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombardment training from 90th Bombardment Wing, April–August 1952. From February through May 1953, the 310th Bomb Wing provided bombardment training to the 40th Bombardment Wing.

The wing replaced the propeller-driven B-29s with new Boeing B-47E Stratojet swept-wing medium bombers in 1954, capable of flying at high subsonic speeds and primarily designed for penetrating the airspace of the Soviet Union. It participated in SAC REFLEX deployments, deploying to RAF Upper Heyford 10 March – 8 June 1955, and at RAF Greenham Common, 3 October 1956 – 9 January 1957, both in the United Kingdom.

The wing gained a strategic missile squadron in April 1961. First CGM-16 Atlas missiles went on alert in September 1962. In the early 1960s, the B-47 was considered to be reaching obsolescence, and was being phased out of SAC's strategic arsenal. B-47s began being sent to AMARC at Davis–Monthan in early 1965; was inactivated in late June.

On 1 September 1991, the third wing to hold the "310" designation, the 310th Training and Test Wing (310 TTW), assumed the ICBM testing and training mission from the Strategic Missile Center (the former 1st Strategic Aerospace Division) at Vandenberg AFB, California under the Twentieth Air Force. After the removal of ICBMs from alert status at the end of the Cold War, the wing continued to train Minuteman crews and to test accuracy and reliability of Minuteman and Peacekeeper missiles. The 310 TTW also assisted in testing the Global Positioning System (GPS) from April 1992 – May 1992. It was reassigned to Air Combat Command on 31 May 1992. It was inactivated on 1 July 1993.

The number 310 was again reutilized with the stand up of the 310th Space Group on 4 September 1997. The group was created around its original squadron, the 7th SOPS, and has grown rapidly with the realization of the critical role the Air Force Reserve can play in the future of space operations. The group has been tremendously successful in its initial missions and has been tasked with reviewing future active/Reserve partnerships in space to identify potential areas where the AF Reserve can add value in the space arena.

In 2008 Air Force Reserve Command officials upgraded the group to a wing at what was then Schriever Air Force Base, CO. The 310th Space Wing was activated on 7 March 2008.^[7]

310th Bombardment Group

• Established as the 310th Bombardment Group (Medium) on 28 January 1942

Activated on 15 March 1942

Redesignated 310th Bombardment Group, Medium on 20 August 1943

Inactivated on 12 September 1945

• Redesignated 310th Bombardment Group, Light and activated in the reserve on 27 December 1946.

Inactivated on 27 June 1949

• Consolidated with the 310th Strategic Aerospace Wing as the 310th Strategic Aerospace Wing on 31 January 1984^[1]

310th Space Wing

• Established as the 310th Bombardment Wing, Medium on 15 March 1952
• Activated on 28 March 1952
• Redesignated 310th Strategic Aerospace Wing on 1 March 1962

Discontinued and inactivated on 25 June 1965

• Consolidated with the 310th Bombardment Group on 31 January 1984 (remained inactive)
• Redesignated 310th Training and Test Wing on 29 August 1991

Activated on 1 September 1991

Inactivated on 1 July 1993

• Redesignated 310th Space Group on 22 August 1997

Activated in the reserve on 1 September 1997

Redesignated 310th Space Wing on 7 March 2008^[1]

Wings

• 40th Bombardment Wing: attached 6 February – 1 May 1953^[1]

Groups

• 310th Operations Group: 1 September 1991 – 1 July 1993,^[1] 7 March 2008 – present
• 710th Operations Group: c. 1 October 2017 – present

Squadrons

• North American B-25 Mitchell, (1942–1945)
• Boeing B-29 Superfortress (1952–1954)
• Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter (1952–1963)
• Boeing B-47 Stratojet (1954–1965)
• CGM-16 Atlas (1962–1965)
• Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker (1964–1965)
• Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (1997–present)
• Global Positioning System (1997–present)
• Space-Based Infrared System (2006–present)

No.	Commander		Term
	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Term length
1		Colonel Jeffrey Ansted[8]	7 January 2006	October 2008	~2 years, 268 days
2		Colonel Karen A. Rizzuti	October 2008	9 January 2011	~2 years, 100 days
3		Colonel Jeffrey T. Mineo[9]	9 January 2011	12 July 2014	3 years, 184 days
4		Colonel Damon S. Feltman[10]	12 July 2014	17 September 2016	2 years, 67 days
5		Colonel Traci L. Kueker-Murphy[11]	17 September 2016	3 November 2018	2 years, 47 days
6		Colonel Dean D. Sniegowski[12]	3 November 2018	31 July 2020	1 year, 271 days
7		Colonel Shariful M. Khan[13]	31 July 2020	3 June 2023	2 years, 307 days
8		Colonel James R. Taggart[14]	3 June 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 171 days

• List of B-29 Superfortress operators
• List of B-47 units of the United States Air Force
• 521st Air Service Group Support unit for the group in World War II

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
• Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947–1977. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9.
• 310th Space Wing Factsheet