The 5th Battalion was reorganized and redesignated in 1987 as a parent regiment under the
United States Army Regimental System. On 18 September 1987 at Giebelstadt Army Airfield (GAAF) in Giebelstadt, Germany, the lineage of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 158th Aviation Battalion was reflagged as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation, which was constituted and activated, using the assets of the
11th Aviation Battalion. The battalion's organic elements were subsequently constituted and activated. During the 1990s the 5th Battalion an element of the 12th Aviation Brigade, was the largest aviation battalion in the US Army. Units of the battalion were located in Giebelstadt and Wiesbaden, Germany and Aviano, Italy, and their mission included transportation of personnel and equipment. During combat or peacekeeping missions the 5th Battalion was also responsible for transporting V Corps leaders throughout the area of operations. Unit aircraft were a mixture of UH-60 Blackhawks and CH-47 Chinooks. Companies A and E of the battalion were located at Wiesbaden Air Base (WAB) in Wiesbaden, while Company B, activated on 16 October 1998, was stationed in Aviano. The activation of Company C at WAB was, at that time, projected for January 2000. This activation completed the army's doctrinal template of the Mission Ready Battalion. As of early 2000 the unit consisted of eight companies flying and maintaining UH-60 Black Hawks and CH-47 Chinooks. The battalion had a total of 70 aircraft, which was larger than the normal 24 in a then-standard aviation battalion. A standard battalion generally flew 3,000-4,000 hours per year, while the 5th Battalion had nearly 12,000 accident-free flying hours during 1999. The unit was also the primary organization used for transporting the US Vice President and entourage for the president when they were in the theater. In 1999, the 5th Battalion deployed to Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Africa, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland and other areas within Europe. The total flying hours for FY99 was over 11,000, with over 5,000 of those hours logged in support of
Task Force Hawk in Albania. Vehicle miles covered by members of the battalion were over 135,000. The unit also dispensed over 750,000 gallons of aircraft fuel without a major incident. Soldiers of the 5th Battalion were the first to fly US troops into Kosovo. 5th Battalion cased its colors at
Katterbach Kaserne in June, 2015 in accordance with the Aviation Restructuring Initiative. ==6th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment==