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The group provided support to Naval Ordnance Test Unit operations. In support of space launch operations, it coordinated training for the wing, manages all wing spacecraft services systems and facilities, and manages the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Skid Strip and thePatrick Air Force Base air traffic control complex, handling more than 24,000 aircraft operations annually.
45th Operations Support Squadron. The 45th Operations Support Squadron assures access to space to fulfill war-fighting, CINC and national requirements by providing policy decisions, training, and airfield operations for the 45th Operations Group, while managing all airfield and air traffic control services for the 45th Space Wing. Its Launch Operations Support Flight Provides behind-the-scenes support for all launches. It helps coordinate tours and launch viewing for distinguished visitors and coordinating launch critical briefings and conferences. Its Airfield Operations Flight manages the Patrick airfield and provides air traffic control services in support of the space range and the National Airspace System. Its Current Operations Flight coordinates and implements wing-level policies and procedures which provide the structure for launch operations. Its Spacelift Operations Training Flight provides wing training policy and guidance for more than 100 space launch operators.
45th Range Management Squadron. The 45th Range Management Squadron provides operations and maintenance services for all range instrumentation and critical launch facilities and quality assurance support to wing and delegated contractual efforts
45th Space Communications Squadron
45th Weather Squadron
Detachment 1, Antigua Air Station, West Indies. This detachment was discontinued on 7 July 2015. It provided telemetry and radar tracking data to support space launches out of the Eastern Range. When not supporting space launches, it provided radar tracking data for locating and cataloging space objects in support of U.S. Space Command's Space Surveillance Network. Operated as part of the space tracking mission for approximately 50 years, and required overUS$10 million per year operational cost in it later years.[2]
Detachment 2,Ascension Auxiliary Air Field. This detachment provides telemetry and radar tracking data to support space launches out of the Eastern Range. When not supporting its primary mission, the unit has the secondary mission of providing radar tracking data for locating and cataloging space objects in support of the United States Space Command Space Surveillance Network.[citation needed]
Detachment 3, Patrick Space Force Base. This detachment, also known as theGuardian Angels,[3] coordinates DOD contingency support for United States human space flight programs. Its roots go back to the 1959 charter by the Secretary of Defense as the DOD Mercury Support Office. Later renamed DOD Manned Space Flight Support Office. Since its inception the office has continued to be the principle facilitator for all DOD contingency support toProjects Mercury,Gemini, andApollo; theApollo–Soyuz Test Project; theSpace Shuttle Program, theInternational Space Station/Soyuz Program; theOrion Program; and the presidential commercial space initiative.[4]
Following theattack on Pearl Harbor the squadron began flyingantisubmarine patrols off the Atlantic coast. In 1942, it converted to various medium bombers, primarily theDouglas B-18 Bolo, which was equipped with radar for the antisubmarine mission. The group moved toDover Army Air Field, Delaware in May 1942 and toMiami Army Air Field, Florida in August. Its squadrons were dispersed to various bases along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts[1][5][6][7][8]
In October 1942, theArmy Air Forces organized its antisubmarine forces into the singleArmy Air Forces Antisubmarine Command, which established the26th Antisubmarine Wing the following month to control its forces operating over the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.[9][10] The command's bombardment group headquarters, including the 45th, were inactivated and the squadrons, now designated the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Antisubmarine Squadrons, were assigned directly to the 26th Wing.[1][5][6][7][8]
Reactivated as the45th Operations Group in November 1991 under Air Force Space Command. Operated "Down-Range" facilities at Antigua, Ascension Island, and Cape Canaveral, Florida; launched DOD payloads into orbit; and collected flight data for evaluation of ballistic missile systems launched from Eastern Launch sites for DOD, NASA, and commercial customers. Provided support for DOD, NASA, and commercial manned and unmanned space programs.
There were several organizational changes in the wing in 1997 and 1998. Detachments 1 and 2 of the 45th Operations Group were inactivated on Antigua and Ascension on 1 June 1997, but they were replaced by Detachments 1 and 2 of the 45th Logistics Group on the same day. The5th Space Launch Squadron was inactivated at Cape Canaveral Air Station on 29 June 1998, and its resources were absorbed by the3rd Space Launch Squadron.
Launch operations were reassigned to the45th Launch Group on 1 December 2003. The group was inactivated on 4 May 2021 and its mission, personnel and equipment were transferred to Space Launch Delta 45 of theUnited States Space Force.
^Based on the emblem for the 45th Space Wing. The group uses the wing emblem with the group designation on the scroll. Robertson, Factsheet 45 Space Wing (AFSPC).
^Approved 6 January 1942. Description: : Azure, three aerial bombs or, a chief potentee of the last.
^The United States impounded 356 DB-7s ordered for France or Great BritainBaugher, Joseph (27 October 2001)."Douglas DB-73". Joe Baugher. Retrieved1 November 2018.
United States
United States Air Force
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This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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