480th Intelligence Wing
Active???-Present
CountryUnited States
BranchUnited States Air Force
TypeIntelligence
RoleCombat Support
Part ofAir Combat Command
Garrison/HQLangley Air Force Base
Motto(s)NON POTESTIS LATERE - You can’t hide
Commanders
Current
commander
Colonel Judy Chizek

The '''480th Intelligence Wing''' (IW) is headquartered at Langley AFB, Virginia. It is organized under Eighth Air Force, Barksdale AFB, Louisiana and Air Combat Command, Langley AFB, Virginia. The Wing traces its history back to 1943 when it was formed as the '''480th Antisubmarine Group'''. Inactivated in 1944, it was reestablished in 1985 as the '''480th Special Operations Wing''', but was never activated. The Wing was officially redesignated the 480 IW and reactivated December 1, 2003.

Mission

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Air Force lead wing for Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) operations, geospatial intelligence and intelligence products for combat mission planning and execution.

Personnel and Resources

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The Wing employs over 2,300 personnel (1,510 military, 62 civilian and 266 contractors from 15 different vendors) performing in 52 Air Force specialties during day to day operations. When activated during periods of crisis, the Wing gains six Air National Guard (ANG) units and over 446 personnel from Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, and Nevada. The Wing manages and operates a $1.7 billion infrastructure including almost 500,000 square feet of facilities located on three AF installations. Annual budget execution is approximately $32M for operations and maintenance plus another $3.2M in procurement.

Organization

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  • 117th Intelligence Squadron (???-Present) [ANG]
  • 123d Intelligence Squadron (???-Present) [ANG]


The 480 IW is headquartered at Langley AFB, Virginia and is comprised of one direct reporting squadron (27th Intelligence Support Squadron) and three intelligence groups (IG) (480 IG, 497 IG, and 548 IG), each of which are assigned two or more squadrons. Currently, six ANG squadrons are gained when activated during periods of crisis (117th Intelligence Squadron, Birmingham Alabama, 123d Intelligence Squadron, Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, 152d Intelligence Squadron, Reno Nevada, and the 161st Intelligence Squadron, Wichita Kansas). Action is underway to convert two ANG units (234th Combat Communications Squadron, Hayward California and portions of the 192d Fighter Wing, Richmond, Virginia) to support DCGS operations at Beale and Langley AFBs.

The 27th Intelligence Support Squadron is assigned directly to the Wing and provides 480 IW, Combat Air Forces, and other DOD organizations with skilled warfighters and leading edge technologies to meet warfighter-specific requirements for campaign planning, targeting, combat assessment and real-time air tasking order execution. Provides worldwide users with information dominance through access to over 30 multi-source intelligence systems and databases. Tests and evaluates emerging information technologies and handles all aspects of the 480 IW security program.

480th Intelligence Group

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The 480th Intelligence Group, Langley AFB, Virginia is assigned the 20th and 36th Intelligence Squadron (the 20th is located at Offutt AFB Nebraska). The group provides tailored geospatial intelligence, target analysis, precision engagement and threat recognition products to enable dominant air and space power by Combat and Mobility Air Forces. The 480 IG is the AF’s sole producer of F-117 imagery databases, Joint Air-to-Air Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM) target products, certified imagery for AF mission planning/rehearsal systems and target threat recognition products.

497th Intelligence Group

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The 497th Intelligence Group, Langley AFB, Virginia is assigned the 10th and 30th Intelligence Squadrons. The group is a warfighting unit leveraging the most robust national/DoD intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance air, space and ground systems architecture. Operates Deployable Ground Station-1 of the Air Force Distributed Common Ground System. Projects global vigilance, providing persistent world-class timely and tailored multi-discipline intelligence analysis to the warfighter while directing reachback/distributed operations.

548th Intelligence Group

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The 548th Intelligence Group, located at Beale AFB, California is assigned the 9th, 13th, and 48th Intelligence Squadrons. The group operates Deployable Ground Station-2 and Deployable Shelterized System-Film (DSS-F) components of the AF Distributed Common Ground System. Includes exploitation and dissemination of near real time U-2, Global Hawk and Predator imagery and signals data to provide actionable, fused all-source intelligence to theater, joint/combined force and component commanders.

480 IW Factsheet on the Public Website