102nd Intelligence Wing
The United States Air Force's 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, is a military intelligence unit located at Otis Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts. Its primary subordinate operational unit is the 101st Intelligence Squadron.
The 102nd Fighter Wing was redesignated the 102nd Intelligence Wing on 6 April 2008 and was planned to reach full operational capacity in 2010.
Mission
The wing mission is "to provide world wide precision intelligence and command and control, along with trained and experienced airmen for expeditionary combat support and homeland security." In addition, the website says that their Air Force–based mission is in line with the ability of joint force commanders to keep pace with information and incorporate it into a campaign plan. In addition to its strictly military role, the wing shares the overall Air National Guard mission of providing assistance during national emergencies such as natural disasters and civil disturbances.However, the 102nd Intelligence Wing has been ordered to halt its intelligence-gathering mission. Secretary Austin has ordered a DoD-wide review of the military intelligence practices to be completed in 45 days. The recertified 102nd ISRG resumed its intelligence mission on 1 June 2024.
Units assigned
Current
Former
History
According to the Air Force, the history of the 102nd begins with the 318th Fighter Group, which was active during World War II. After the war, the 318th was inactivated, and eventually the 102nd Fighter Wing was formed, which had a direct lineage link. In 1946, the 102nd was activated at Logan International Airport where it stayed until 1968, when it moved to Otis Air Force Base. Beginning in 1946, the wing began regular patrols of the Northeastern United States which took place in conjunction with Air Force active duty units. In 1968, the 102nd was moved to Otis, where it continued its regular patrols until 1973.During the time that the wing had a flying mission, the wing deployed to many locations around the globe to assist in missions for the Air Force. In 1961, the wing deployed to France during the Berlin Crisis. Twenty eight years later, the wing deployed to Panama during Operation Coronet Nighthawk. It also participated in Operation Northern Watch, helping to patrol the No-Fly Zone north of the 36th parallel in Iraq. During the September 11 attacks, the 102nd Fighter Wing deployed the first Air Force aircraft toward New York City, but they arrived too late to stop the attacks.
Over the years, the wing has controlled many other Air National Guard units. Following the inactivation of the 67th Fighter Wing in November 1950, the wing was put in charge of a few fighter units on the Atlantic Coast. In 1976, the wing even became responsible for the 147th Fighter Interceptor Group, located in Texas.
Military downsizing through the Base Realignment and Closure process removed the wing's F-15C Eagles beginning in 2007, leaving the 102nd with an intelligence gathering mission. If activated to federal service, the wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency, and is one of three Air National Guard wings under this agency. As commonwealth militia units, the units in the 102nd Intelligence Wing are not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command. They are under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts National Guard unless they are federalized by order of the President of the United States.
After a large-scale leak of Department of Defense documents in early 2023 that were traced to Jack Teixeira from the wing, the USAF announced a separate investigation on April 18 and halted the wing from carrying out its intelligence tasks.
Roots of the 102nd
The 102nd Intelligence Wing traces its roots to the 318th Fighter Group which was formed in 1942. It fought in the Pacific as part of bomber escort missions to Japan, and participated in aircraft carrier operations, rarely experienced by the Army Air Force. The 318th returned to the United States after the war, was inactivated on 12 January 1946.The wartime 318th Fighter Group was redesignated the 102nd Fighter Group, and allotted to the Massachusetts Air National Guard on 24 May 1946. It was organized at Logan Airport, Boston, and was extended federal recognition on 22 October 1946 by the National Guard Bureau.
Cold War
In 1946-47 the National Guard Bureau began a major expansion of its air units. Massachusetts was allotted the 67th Fighter Wing, which consisted of the 101st Fighter Squadron, the 131st Fighter Squadron, the 132nd Fighter Squadron, the 202nd Air Service Group, 601st Signal Construction Company, 101st Communications Squadron, 101st Air Control Squadron, 151st Air Control and Warning Group, 567th Air Force Band, 101st Weather Flight and the 1801st Aviation Engineer Company. The 67th Wing was assigned to Air Defense Command.Guard units were generally neglected when the United States Air Force was created. Despite the introduction of jet fighters, the Guard units were left with generally overused World War II propeller aircraft, and had few funds for training. As the Cold War intensified, the Air Force looked to the Guard to fill United States–based interception missions and started overhauling their organization. Although the Massachusetts Air National Guard was not federalized for the Korean War, many airmen volunteered for active duty and flew in Korea. On 1 November 1950, the 67th Fighter Wing was inactivated and replaced by the 102nd Fighter Wing, including just the 101st and 131st squadrons and their associated support units, and at some point before 1961 the wing was renamed a Tactical Fighter Wing. Additionally, the wing kept the 567th, and the 1801st. The squadrons were issued F-84B Thunderjets, but these were recalled and replaced by F-51 Mustangs which were flown until 1954 when the F-94 Starfire replaced the Mustangs. In 1952 the 253rd Combat Communications Group was activated and added to the 102nd. In 1958 the Wing converted to the F-86H Sabre.
From 195, the 102nd was commanded by Brigadier General Charles W. Sweeney, pilot of the B-29 Superfortress Bockscar that dropped the Fat Man nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. During his tenure, the wing developed from a rather new unit to the mainstay of air defense in the Northeastern United States. Sweeney retired as a major general in 1976.
Berlin Wall Crisis
On 16 August 1961, when the Berlin Wall crisis was unfolding, several United States Air Force Reserve units were notified of their pending recall to active duty. On 1 October the wing and its three squadrons, the 101st, 131st and 138th were placed on active duty at Otis Air Force Base.In late October, the 102nd departed Logan for Phalsbourg-Bourscheid Air Base, Phalsbourg, France. The wing had 82 Sabres, plus two C-47 Skytrains and six T-33 Shooting Stars for support and training purposes. During the crisis, the wing controlled the 102nd Tactical Fighter Group, the 104th Tactical Fighter Group, and the 174th Tactical Fighter Group from New York. The 102nd's primary mission was to provide close air support to NATO ground forces, including the Seventh Army, and air interdiction. During the blockade, the 102nd did not incur any losses. Starting on 5 December 1961 the 102nd began deploying to Wheelus Air Base, Libya for gunnery training.
During its time in Europe, the 102nd participated in several United States Air Force and North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercises, including a deployment to Leck Air Base, West Germany near the Danish border. At Leck, ground and support crews from both countries exchanged duties, learning how to perform aircraft maintenance and operational support tasks.
The 102nd returned to the United States in August 1962. Regular Air Force personnel and a group of Air National Guard personnel who volunteered to remain on active duty formed the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the newly activated 366th Tactical Fighter Wing.
Relocation to Otis
In 1968, the 102nd Tactical Fighter Wing moved to Otis Air Force Base, and was reassigned from the Air Defense Command to the Tactical Air Command the next year. The wing flew the F-84F Thunderstreak from 1964 until June 1971, when a squadron of F-100D Super Sabres was transferred directly from units fighting the Vietnam War. These were superseded soon after by the Mach 2 F-106 Delta Darts and on 10 June 1972, the unit became the 102nd Air Defense Wing. On 30 December 1973, Otis Air Force Base was inactivated and transferred to the Massachusetts Air National Guard as Otis Air National Guard Base.The wing intercepted Soviet Tupolev Tu-95 Bear bombers on many occasions, the first of which occurred off Long Island on 25 April 1975. Many of these incidents involved escorting the Bears to Cuba. The wing occasionally shadowed drug smuggling aircraft, and on one occasion was scrambled to escort an unidentified object, which later turned out to be a weather balloon.
In 1976, the 102nd Fighter Interceptor Group was inactivated and reformed as the 102nd Fighter Interceptor Wing. It assumed authority for the 177th Fighter Interceptor Group at Atlantic City Air National Guard Base and the 125th Fighter Interceptor Group at Jacksonville Air National Guard Base. Both units flew the F-106. It also assumed command of the 107th Fighter Interceptor Group at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station and the 147th Fighter Interceptor Group at Ellington Field, Texas. The latter two flew the F-4C Phantom.
The 102nd Fighter Interceptor Wing lost its F-106s on 5 January 1988. Between January and April 1988, the wing converted to the F-15A Eagle, which it received from the 5th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron which was inactivating at Minot Air Force Base. It then resumed its alert commitment at Otis, and also established a new Detachment 1 at Loring Air Force Base, taking over for the inactivating 5th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. The 102nd was the first Air National Guard unit to be equipped with the 102nd 's conversion to the F-15 marked the first Air National Guard air defense unit to receive the Eagle. The 102nd Fighter Interceptor Wing was redesignated the 102nd Fighter Wing in April 1992.
On 24 January 1989, airmen monitoring the radar at the Northeast Air Defense Sector at Griffiss Air Force Base spotted a plane which was not following any known flight plan. The order was then given to "scramble the Eagles," after repeated attempts to contact the pilot failed. Two jets then took off from Loring to search for the "unknown rider." The pilots later came across a plane that was blacked out, with no lights on inside or outside. The pilot was a narcotics smuggler from Colombia's Medellin drug cartel. He was carrying had a street value of two hundred million dollars in the amount of 500 kilograms of cocaine.