The 203rd Air Refueling Squadron (203 ARS) is a unit of the
Hawaii Air National Guard's
154th Wing located at
Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam
Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam (JBPHH) is a United States military base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. It is an amalgamation of the United States Air Force's Hickam Air Force Base and the United States Navy's Naval Station Pearl Harbor, ...
, Honolulu, Hawaii. The 203rd ARS is equipped with the
Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker
The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of transpo ...
.
Overview
The 203rd Air Refueling Squadron is a unit of the
154th Wing. It is an associate Unit with the
96th Air Refueling Squadron at
Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam
Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam (JBPHH) is a United States military base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. It is an amalgamation of the United States Air Force's Hickam Air Force Base and the United States Navy's Naval Station Pearl Harbor, ...
.
The squadron flies the
Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker
The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of transpo ...
, which provides the core aerial-refueling capability for the Air Force and has been in this role for more than 50 years. It also provides aerial-refueling support to Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and allied-nation aircraft. The KC-135 is also capable of transporting litter and ambulatory patients using patient support pallets during aeromedical evacuations.
History
Established in 1993 to provide the
Hawaii Air National Guard an air refueling mission and to establish an air refueling capability over the middle
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
. It began as a small 4 aircraft squadron until 1995 when it was authorized to grow to 8 aircraft and increased personnel.
From late February to April 1998, four KC-135R aircraft from the 203rd, and over 200 154th Wing maintenance and support guard members deployed to
Istres Air Base
Istres (; Occitan: Istre) is a commune in southern France, some 60 km (38 mi) northwest of Marseille. It is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture.
Location
Is ...
, France, to participate in Operation Deliberate Forge. As real world hostilities began, the focus turned to Operation Allied Force. Seventy combat sorties were flown with a 100 percent mission success rate and zero ground/air mishaps or injuries, and over 3.9 million pounds of fuel were transferred to U.S. and NATO aircraft.
When political and military tensions built up in Southwest Asia, a KC-135R and guard members from the Squadron and 154th Logistics Group were deployed to
Eielson Air Force Base
Eielson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located approximately 26 miles (42 km) southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska and just southeast of Moose Creek, Alaska. It was established in 1943 as Mile 26 Satellite Field and redes ...
, Alaska, to support Operation Phoenix Scorpion in November 1998. The unit took part in exercise RIMPAC 2000, taking place in June 2000.
In February 2001, a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft from the squadron provided assistance to the U.S. Department of Defense humanitarian aid airlift to earthquake stricken India. A 203rd KC-135 tanker took off from
Hickam Air Force Base
Hickam Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation, named in honor of aviation pioneer Lieutenant Colonel Horace Meek Hickam. The installation merged in 2010 with Naval Station Pearl Harbor to become part of the newly formed Joint ...
to refuel the first India-bound
Lockheed C-5 Galaxy cargo aircraft laden with relief supplies. The U.S. Air Force C-5 aircraft had departed
Travis Air Force Base
Travis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command (AMC), located three miles (5 km) east of the central business district of the city of Fairfield, in Solano County, California ...
, California, loaded with heavy equipment and other relief supplies needed in the disaster areas.
On 4 February 2003, two squadron KC-135R Stratotankers from the squadron refueled two Air Combat Command
Rockwell B-1B Lancer
The Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the United States Air Force. It is commonly called the "Bone" (from "B-One"). It is one of three strategic bombers serving in the U.S. Air Force fleet along with ...
s over the Pacific Ocean while the bombers finished up a 19-hour, more than 15,000-mile, global power mission.
Lineage
* Constituted as the 203rd Air Refueling Squadron and allotted to the Air National Guard in 1993
: Received federal recognition and activated on 16 January 1993
Assignments
*
154th Group, 16 January 1993
* 154th Operations Group, 1 January 1994 – present
Stations
* Hickam Air Force Base (later
Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam
Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam (JBPHH) is a United States military base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. It is an amalgamation of the United States Air Force's Hickam Air Force Base and the United States Navy's Naval Station Pearl Harbor, ...
), 16 January 1993 – present
Aircraft
* Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker, 1993 – present
References
Notes
; Explanatory notes
; Citations
Bibliography
* Rogers, B. (2006). United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978.
External links
154th Wing units webpage
{{Hawaii
Squadrons of the United States Air National Guard
Air refueling squadrons of the United States Air Force
Military units and formations in Hawaii