<text id=00od0700><title>Organization and Deployment: Units</title>
<history>US Air Force: Briefing</history>
<article><hdr>Organization and Deployment—Units</hdr><body>
<p>Perhaps the most difficult change to keep track of (and to document here) is the change in nomenclature of Air Force units. F-16s and A-10s once belonged to Tactical Fighter Squadrons, C-141s and C-5s belonged to Military Airlift Squadrons, and so on. No longer. Virtually every unit in the USAF has changed the adjectives which describe its mission.
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<p>What has not changed is the terminology used by the service to name its formations. Using terms which date to the 1930s (and to simplify, somewhat, a complex topic) USAF formations are named as follows:
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<p>A flight is the smallest formation, usually consisting of a dozen or fewer people or, typically, of four aircraft. The typical flight leader would be a captain. Letter designations are used: A Flight, B Flight, etc, rendered in phonetics as Alpha Flight, Bravo Flight, etc.
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<p>A squadron is made up of several flights (typically four), usually a couple of hundred people, and from eight (C-141B) to 24 (F-16C) airplanes. A squadron is commanded by a lieutenant colonel or, infrequently, a major. Number designations apply, one or two digits for the regular Air Force (7th Fighter Squadron), 100s series (and some of the 200s) for the Air National Guard (121st Fighter Squadron), and 301 onward for the regular Air Force again.
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<p>Lying between the squadrons and the wing is the group, for most units an operations group being in place to actually co-ordinate the day-to-day use of the aircraft.
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<p>A wing is made up of several squadrons (typically three or four) and, after recent changes, now encompasses not merely flying operations but support activities as well, with a single wing having responsibility for a single base. Under this arrangement, most wings will now be commanded by a brigadier general rather than, as in the past, a colonel.
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<p>These formations in the past have reported to numbered air forces (8th Air Force) on the chain of command leading to the top of their 'majcom' (major command), such as Air Mobility Command or Air Combat Command. After recent changes, most Air Divisions were eliminated. A wing commander in Air Combat Command is now much closer to dealing directly with the four-star general in charge of the command.
