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 (BRAC) 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. 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. During his tenure, the wing developed from a rather new unit to the mainstay of air defense in the Northeastern United States.
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. 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. 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.
Post-Cold War Local defense s from
Otis Air National Guard Base|alt=Two jets fly in formation The wing continued its air defense mission after the
fall of the
Soviet Union. In 1992, the wing deployed eight pilots, five F-15 Eagles, and 48 maintenance and security personnel, for five days training at
Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay,
Labrador, Canada. In July 1993, the wing deployed 50 personnel from the 102nd Civil Engineering Squadron under field conditions, to the island of
Eleuthera in the
Bahamas. They helped rebuild schools and municipal facilities damaged by
Hurricane Andrew. In 1994, the 102nd received more
F-15A/B Eagles from the
32nd Fighter Group at
Soesterberg Air Base, which was inactivating as part of the post
Cold War draw down of forces in Europe. The wing was deployed from 1995 to 1998 to
Iceland for periodic 45-day deployments. In 1998, the wing's members also trained and deployed to Iceland, Canada, Korea, and Europe. The next year, the 102nd participated in
Operation Northern Watch and was deployed to
Turkey in order to enforce the no-fly zone over Iraq north of the 36th Parallel. In 2000, personnel were deployed to the Middle East and Europe in order to participate in
Operation Southern Watch. While all of this was going on, senior battle staff at
Otis were watching the news when
United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower. This immediately caused one commander to shout out, "We need to go to battle staff!" This order caused senior commanders to disperse and head towards nearby operations buildings. Inside, the gathered together in the battle cab of the installation operations center. Soon after, a voice came over the base's loudspeakers: "The commander has ordered the 102nd core battle staff to assemble. Please report to the operations building immediately." Mobilization of the wing began to occur after this time. At the time of the order, eighteen planes were ready for flight and commanders began to prepare based on what they anticipated they would be asked to do. Most of these actions were guessing because there had never been an attack on the country before. Knowing that they could not await on guidance from the
North American Aerospace Defense Command, the recalled all training flights and began loading fuel and weapons onto all available fighter jets.
Conspiracy link After the initial shock of the attacks had passed, questions arose about how the military handled the hijacking and subsequent response with the jets. Some thought that the jets had been purposely kept from flying immediately to New York City. The questions arising from the response time of the jets come from the practice of
Cold War era policies which prohibited the immediate response to an emergency like a hijacking. First responder and pilot Daniel Nash said that he could not recall being told that the North Tower was hit but he did remember seeing the smoke over away.
Global war on terror Operation Noble Eagle More than 600 wing members were mobilized for
Operation Noble Eagle, and the wing began flying around-the-clock
combat air patrol missions immediately thereafter. This continued until February 2002. In the buildup to the invasion of Afghanistan, six F-15s and 161 personnel were sent to the
Persian Gulf region. The wing also patrolled the skies of the Northeastern United States during this time period. The wing though never deployed for
Operation Iraqi Freedom. The wing converted from the F-15A/B to the F-15C/D in 2004. These planes came from
Kadena Air Base. Locals argued that this would leave a huge gap in the national air defenses. Commission officials, after visiting the base, decided to keep it open, but the 102nd would still lose its planes, only this time they were only going to the
104th Fighter Wing, based at
Barnes Municipal Airport. The wing hosted the
Cape Cod Air Show & Open House, its last air show with the
F-15C Eagle at the end of Air Force Week in August 2007. The wing shared a commonality with the
101st Air Refueling Wing, the
103d Fighter Wing, and the
104th Fighter Wing, This interruption of the F-15's flight, coinciding with the transitioning of the fighter jets to the
104th Fighter Wing, created some issues. Eventually, Governor
Deval Patrick announced that the wing would adopt an intelligence role as soon as the aircraft left. Original Base Realignment and Closure commission plans only hinted at a
Distributed Common Ground System being created at Otis. These plans did not include the air guardsmen affected by the loss of their jobs. The issue was resolved when the Air Force announced its plans, right before the F-15s started to leave for Barnes.
Intelligence leak In an article published on April 13, 2023, the
New York Times revealed that the individual responsible for the
2023 Pentagon document leaks was a junior enlisted member of the 102nd. The FBI arrested Airman 1st Class
Jack Teixeira, cyber transport systems journeyman of the 102nd Intelligence Wing,
Joint Base Cape Cod for allegedly uploading Top Secret information to a
Discord server. Teixeira was stationed at
Fort Bragg during the time of the data leaks, which were widely reported. Other airmen from the unit are sidelined from the primary mission of the 102nd. Texeira was observed making notes on the intelligence stream and was warned about his behavior. Texeira has been indicted on six counts; after the warnings, authorities were baffled over how long Texeira was allowed to continue to operate at the Air National Guard Base.
See Need to know In response, the Pentagon is instituting °Top Secret Control Officers, °plans for electronic device detection systems suitable for classified, secret, and top secret areas, and °an office to address insider threats. The Justice department said each violation for "Unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000". On 11 December 2023 Wing Commander Sean Riley was relieved of command, and 14 others were disciplined.
Formation of A-staff On 28 June 2023 the 102nd Wing commander announced the formation of an A-staff to operate in parallel with wing staff; from twenty to twenty-six positions would reach initial operating capability (IOC) on 1 October 2023. Corresponding A-staffs are being formed, for example at Air Task Forces (ATFs) as a test. ==References==