The mission of the 557th Weather Wing, the Air Force’s only weather wing, is to exploit timely, accurate, and relevant weather information anytime and everywhere on the globe. We do this by providing around-the-clock authoritative terrestrial and space-environmental data, analyses, forecasts, threat-warning and threat-mitigation products and services for the Department of Defense, military services, all geographic and functional combatant commands, the National Intelligence Community, White House Situation Room, interagency, allied and coalition partners around the world across multiple security enclaves.
The men and women of the 557th embrace a proud heritage of maximizing America’s military power. From the D-Day invasion to Operations ENDURING FREEDOM, IRAQI FREEDOM and INHERENT RESOLVE, our weather and cyber professionals have been enabling warfighters to achieve multi-domain decision superiority by mitigating atmospheric and solar threats to execution from the strategic to operational to tactical levels of warfare.
Headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, the 557th is comprised of 1,450 personnel in two groups and 12 squadrons spanning 17 globally dispersed locations. Through the 1st and 2d Weather Groups, we integrate leading-edge threat-based weather forecasts and warnings, as well as climatological projection and solar-threat expertise, into all operational phases. From managing daily risk for protection of personnel and resources, to shaping warfighter planning and execution of kinetic and non-kinetic engagements, to enabling long-range strategic basing decisions, the 557th empowers decision makers to “choose the weather for battle” and achieve our nation’s objectives.
Transformation and innovation are inseparable tenets of the wing’s approach to maximizing readiness and lethality to ensure battlespace dominance. Our 2015 transformation from a Field Operating Agency to a specialized-mission wing allowed us to become more operationally focused. Since then, we have continuously sought to increase operational synergy through cultivation of key joint, interagency, allied, and industry partnerships. Furthermore, we operationalized the Air Force’s newest Global Air-Land Weather Exploitation Model; ramped up data assimilation to increase model fidelity and accuracy; expanded connectivity to additional networks to extend our reach to the warfighter; bolstered cybersecurity of our High Performance Computing Data Center; expanded our space weather services and outreach; and postured our personnel and resources to not only provide global weather reach back operations but also more direct boots-on-ground expeditionary base operating support through expansion of our deployable footprint. All these initiatives have one aim… maximize the 557th’s ability to exploit global terrestrial and space-environmental intelligence to better meet the dynamic needs of Air Force, Army, combatant command, special operations, Command and Control and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance activities in a contested, degraded, or operationally limited environment both today and tomorrow.
Of course, none of this would be possible without our Airmen… to “tell our story” is to tell theirs. The men and women of the 557th are proud to support and defend the interests of our great Nation. This wing and our Airmen approach each day as another opportunity to advance a proud history and leave a lasting legacy. We take pride in a culture of social, physical, mental, and spiritual resilience, and embrace our Airmen and their families.