The 721st Air Mobility Operations Group (721 AMOG) is a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

(USAF) unit assigned to the

521st Air Mobility Operations Wing The 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing (521 AMOW) is part of Air Mobility Command and is stationed at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It coordinates logistical air movements into, out of, and through Europe. The 521st AMOW expedites warfighting a ...

, stationed at

Ramstein Air Base Ramstein Air Base is a United States Air Force installation located in Rhineland-Palatinate, southwestern Germany. It serves as the headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) and NATO Alli ...

, Germany.

History

The squadron was reactivated in 1977 to operate the

Military Airlift Command The Military Airlift Command (MAC) is an inactive United States Air Force major command (MAJCOM) that was headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. Established on 1 January 1966, MAC was the primary strategic airlift organization of ...

(MAC) aerial port at

. It serviced transient

C-5 Galaxy The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the United States Air Force (USAF) with a heavy intercontinental-rang ...

and

C-17 Globemaster The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) between the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of two previ ...

transports at Ramstein, loading and unloading cargo and also received airlifted equipment and personnel for

United States Army Europe United States Army Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF) is an Army Service Component Command (ASCC) /Theater Army responsible for directing United States Army operations throughout the U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICO ...

(USAREUR) forces units in Germany. In August 1983, the squadron expanded to group size and was assigned separate aerial port and maintenance squadrons to carry out its mission. It was also assigned its first flying squadron, the 58th Military Airlift Squadron (MAS), which was assigned from the 322d Airlift Division.AFHRA Factsheet, 58th Airlift Squadron
(Retrieved 24 October 2012) The assumption of the

airlift An airlift is the organized delivery of Materiel, supplies or personnel primarily via military transport aircraft. Airlifting consists of two distinct types: strategic and tactical. Typically, strategic airlifting involves moving material lo ...

mission was reflected when the group was redesignated the 608th Military Airlift Group. The 10th MAS at

Zweibrücken Air Base Zweibrücken Air Base was a NATO military air base in West Germany . It was located SSW of Kaiserslautern and SE of Zweibrücken. It was assigned to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) during ...

which operated

C-23 Sherpa The Short C-23 Sherpa is a small military transport aircraft built by Short Brothers. It was designed to operate from unpaved runways and make STOL, short takeoff and landings (STOL). It features a large squared fuselage with a full-width rea ...

transports in support of USAFE's European Distribution System (EDS) was also reassigned from the 322d Airlift Division in 1984.AFHRA Factsheet, 10th Airlift Squadron
(Retrieved 24 October 2012) The EDS was organized to give units in Europe a quicker way to receive small equipment items or supplies on a round-the-clock basis, without the expense of the larger cargo aircraft. The group also supported Special Air Transportation of HQ USAFE executives with a fleet of light transport. The 10th MAS was inactivated in 1991. in 1992, USAF embarked on a major reorganization of its Major Commands. In this reorganization, theater airlift was reassigned from the inactivating MAC. The host

86th Fighter Wing Area codes 084 and 086 are Nigerian telephone area codes serving the cities of Port Harcourt and Ahoada in Rivers State. They fall under the Southeast Zone in the National Numbering Plan (NNP) restructured in 2003. When in Port Harcourt or Ahoad ...

at Ramstein became the 86th Wing and the 58th MAS was redesignated the 58th Airlift Squadron and assigned to the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

86th Operations Group The 86th Operations Group (86 OG) is the flying operational component of the 86th Airlift Wing, United States Air Force. The group is stationed at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The mission of the 86 OG (Tail Code: RS) is to conduct airlift, aird ...

. The 608th's mission became strategic airlift support once again as it was redesignated the 608th Airlift Support Group of

Air Mobility Command The Air Mobility Command (AMC) is a List of Major Commands of the United States Air Force, Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, U.S. Air Force. It is headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, east of St. Louis, Missouri, ...

(AMC). However, its mission expanded to include support for all of Europe and it was assigned squadrons at Torrejon AB, Spain, and

RAF Mildenhall Royal Air Force Mildenhall, or more simply RAF Mildenhall , is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station located near Mildenhall, Suffolk, Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Despite its status as a List of Royal Air Force stations, ...

, England. In recognition of its responsibility to support not only airlift, but the

air refueling Aerial refueling (American English, en-us), or aerial refuelling (British English, en-gb), also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from ...

mission of AMC, it became the 621st Air Mobility Support Group in 1994 and was renumbered the because USAF policy required subordinate support units numbers to reflect their parent organization's number and the group was assigned to

Twenty-First Air Force The Twenty-First Air Force (21 AF) is an inactive numbered air force of the United States Air Force. It was last active as the 21st Expeditionary Mobility Task Force (21 EMTF), stationed at the McGuire AFB entity of Joint Base McGuire–Dix–La ...

. It became the 721st Air Mobility Operations Group in 2001. The group's Detachment 5 was located at

Balad Air Base Balad Air Base () , is an Iraqi Air Force base located near Balad in the Sunni Triangle north of Baghdad, Iraq. Built in the early 1980s, it was originally named Al-Bakr Air Base. In 2003 the base was captured by the United States Armed Force ...

with a mission to recover and launch AMC aircraft transiting Balad, minimizing ground time to reduce exposure to enemy attacks, In 2008, AMC activated the

at Ramstein. The 521st assumed the theater air mobility support mission and the squadrons of the 721st located away from Ramstein were reassigned to it,

Lineage

* Constituted as the 608th Military Airlift Group on 1 July 1983 : Activated on 1 August 1983Although the 608th Military Airlift Support Squadron was simultaneously inactivated at Ramstein Air Base, the two units are not related for lineage. : Redesignated 608th Airlift Support Group on 1 June 1992 : Redesignated 621st Air Mobility Support Group on 1 July 1994 : Redesignated 721st Air Mobility Operations Group on 15 March 2001

Assignments

* 322d Airlift Division, 1 August 1983 * Twenty-First Air Force (later 21st Expeditionary Mobility Task Force), 1 March 1992 * 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing, 1 September 2008 – present

Stations

* Ramstein AB, West Germany (later Germany), 1 August 1983 – present

Subordinate Units

* 10th Military Airlift Squadron, 15 March 1984 – 31 March 1991 * 58th Military Airlift Squadron, 1 August 1983 – 1 June 1992 * 608th Aerial Port Squadron, 1 August 1983 – 1 July 1992 * 608th Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Squadron (later 608th Maintenance Squadron), 1 August 1983 – 1 July 1994 * 623d Air Mobility Support Squadron (later 623d Air Mobility Operations Squadron, 723d Air Mobility Squadron), 1 July 1994 – present * 625th Airlift Support Squadron (later 625th Air Mobility Support Squadron, 725th Air Mobility Squadron), 1 June 1992 – 1 September 2008 : Located at Torrejon Air Base, Spain. Moved to

Naval Station Rota Spain Naval Station Rota, also known as NAVSTA Rota (), is a Spanish naval base, that is jointly used by the Spanish Navy and the United States Navy. Located in Rota, Cádiz, Rota in the Province of Cádiz, NAVSTA Rota is the largest American military ...

* 627th Airlift Support Squadron (later 627th Air Mobility Support Squadron, 627th Air Mobility Operations Squadron, 727th Air Mobility Squadron), 1 August 1993 – 1 September 2008 : Located at RAF Mildenhall, England * 779th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron unknown date (c.2002?) – inactivated 15 April 2006Research Division, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Air Force Organization Change Status Report, April 2006, Maxwell AFB, AL : Ramstein Air Base, Germany

Aircraft

* C-12F, 1983–1992 * C-21, 1983–1992 * C-20, 1983–1992 * C-23A, 1983–1992 * C-135, 1983–1992

Awards and campaigns

References

Notes

Bibliography

{{AFHRA

External links

AMC stands up new en route structure wing in Europe
(Retrieved 24 Oct 2012) Groups of the United States Air Force Military units and formations established in 1966