✈️ 600 airmen relocating from Hurlburt and Duke Fields.
⚡ 492nd Special Operations Wing becomes a power projection unit.
📍 AFSOC headquarters to remain in Florida.
HURLBURT FIELD — The Department of the Air Force will relocate about 600 service members from Hurlburt Field and Duke Field in Okaloosa County to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona as part of a plan to stand up the 492nd Special Operations Wing, officials announced Friday.
The move represents a fraction of the nearly 9,000 airmen stationed at Hurlburt, longtime home of Air Force Special Operations Command(AFSOC). The command itself will remain in Florida, where it has been based since 1990.
The relocation, first outlined in August 2023, was refined to prioritize mission effectiveness, cost efficiency, and alignment with Air Force priorities, according to a statement from Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs.
The wing is transforming from a training unit into AFSOC’s fifth power projection wing, capable of strike, mobility, and intelligence missions.
Units slated to shift to Arizona include the 492nd Special Operations Wing headquarters and the 319th Special Operations Squadron from Hurlburt, and the 492nd Special Operations Theater Air Operations Squadron from Duke.
A new intelligence squadron under Air Combat Command will also activate at Davis-Monthan.
Florida lawmakers had raised concerns in August 2023, fearing a larger drawdown.
Florida Sen. Rick Scott and then-Rep. Matt Gaetz said that they would be “very aggressive” in protecting Hurlburt’s role after then-Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said he wanted to discuss “programmatic basing actions.”
Scott said he received assurances from Kendall that AFSOC’s headquarters and prominent presence would not leave Florida.
Outside of the 492nd, the 319th Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt and the 492nd Special Operations Theatre Squadron at Duke Field will also be relocated to Arizona.
The plan also selects Davis-Monthan Air Force Base as the preferred location of the 34th Special Operations Unit at Hurlburt Field, along with the 20th Special Operations Squadron and the 20th Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, currently based at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico.
According to military officials, the Air Force will begin required environmental analysis on proposed changes by Fall 2025.
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