388th Fighter Wing

The 388th Fighter Wing is the largest tenant unit at Hill AFB, with over 2,000 Airmen operating, maintaining and supporting the Air Force's largest operational fleet of F-16s. The primary mission of the 388th Fighter Wing and its Reserve associate unit, the 419th Fighter Wing, is to have professionals ready to deploy, employ and sustain F-16s worldwide to fight and win any conflict.

While located on an Air Force Materiel Command base, the 388th FW is assigned to 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern), Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., and ACC, Langley Air Force Base, Va. The 388th FW's three active-duty fighter squadrons, the 4th "Fightin'Fuujins,"the 34th "Rams" and the 421st "BlackWidows," are teamed with its Reserve associate fighter squadron,the 466th "Diamondbacks," flying the F-16CM newly upgraded under the Common Configuration Implementation Program.

The multi-role F-16 Fighting Falcon entered Air Force operational service in the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill AFB in January 1979. The wing is now equipped with more than 70 highly maneuverable F-16s that are proven in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attacks. The combat-proven F-16s of the 388th use the latest capabilities to provide all-weather, day or night attack options using a large variety of advanced munitions.

A complement of other squadrons within the 388th provides the necessary maintenance, logistics and operational support for the wing's war-fighting mission. These units include the 388th Equipment Maintenance Squadron, 388th Component Maintenance Squadron, 388th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 388th Maintenance Operations Squadron, 388th Operations Support Squadron and associated Reserve maintenance units.

One squadron unique to the wing is the 388th Range Squadron (RANS). The 388th RANS operates the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR), located approximately 100 miles west of Salt Lake City in the Great Salt Lake Basin of western Utah. The range consists of approximately 13,000 square nautical miles of air space. The air space is situated over 2,624 square miles of Department of Defense land, of which 1,490 square miles is Air Force owned. The DoD land includes Dugway Proving Ground, a U.S. Army range. A strong partnership with Dugway has resulted in joint usage of DoD land and airspace to make the UTTR ideal for multi-service operational test and training activities. The UTTR mission is to test and evaluate cruise missiles as well as provide weapons testing and support. In 1997, ACC assumed responsibility for the range as a result of the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) decision. The 388th RANS was formed to carry out the UTTR's mission to provide open-air training and test to support day-to-day training, large force training exercises, large footprint weapons testing and requirements as the daily manager of range scheduling. The UTTR continues to operate primarily as a training range supporting ACC units and to test large footprint weapons.