163rd Attack Wing
military unit
The 163rd Attack Wing (163 ATKW) is a unit of the California Air National Guard stationed at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, California. As a "Grizzly" unit, the Wing operates the MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft, maintaining a dual-status mission that allows it to serve both the Governor of California for domestic emergencies and the federal government for global combat operations. When activated for federal service, the Wing falls under the operational control of the United States Air Force. For combat and operational missions, it is gained by the Air Combat Command (ACC). For its responsibilities as a Formal Training Unit (FTU), it is gained by the Air Education and Training Command (AETC).
Mission
The 163 ATKW is one of the first Air National Guard units to fly the MQ-1 Predator. The mission of the 163 ATKW is to execute global unmanned aerial systems, combat support, and humanitarian missions by highly trained Air National Guard personnel.
Units
The 163rd Attack Wing consists of the following units:
163rd Operations Group
196th Attack Squadron
160th Attack Squadron (Flying Training Unit)
163rd Operations Support Squadron
210th Weather Flight
163rd Mission Support Group
163rd Maintenance Group
163rd Medical Group
History
Air Defense Command
On 17 May 1958, the California Air National Guard's 196th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Ontario International Airport was authorized to expand to a group level. The 163rd Fighter Group (Air Defense) was established, and the 196th became the group's flying squadron. Other units assigned to the group were the 163rd Material Squadron, 163rd Air Base Squadron, and the 163rd USAF Dispensary.
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This entry incorporates text from “163rd Attack Wing” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.