Weather flight becomes a squadron

  • Published
  • By Kevin Gaddie
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  The 96th Weather Squadron was activated in a ceremony here April 14.  It was previously named the 96th Weather Flight since 2011.

Maj. Paul Homan assumed command of the squadron as he accepted the squadron guidon from Col. Scott Thompson, 96th Operations Group commander.

"The activation of the 96th Weather Squadron is a testament to the hard work, ingenuity and impact our weather team has on the broad and diverse missions of Team Eglin," Homan said.  "In addition, the squadron is recognized by leaders across the Air Force as a key strategic unit in providing weather expertise as early as possible in the research, development, acquisitions and test processes."

The 96th Weather Flight operated as a squadron from 1996 to 2011.  In March 2011, the unit was changed to a numbered flight, directly reporting to the 96th OG commander, as the authorized manning was below the newly established squadron manning level requirement.

Although the name changed, the flight's day-to-day scope and mission never decreased, the new squadron commander said.

Homan said the squadron was activated again due to its increased support to the vast amount of units here and at Duke Field, which put their funded manpower positions above squadron minimum levels.  The squadron currently has 34 military and civilian personnel.

In addition, it was determined that having the influence and leadership of a squadron would increase the mission capability, effectiveness, and throughput of all organizations tied to Eglin, Homan said. 

The squadron's mission is to Integrate, communicate, and exploit weather data for Team Eglin, Homan said.

The squadron's team of advanced degree research meteorologists are integrated into the test process, Homan said.  They provide cutting edge research and data to help predict how a weapon system will interact with the environment and how design and test configurations should be altered to take into account long-term climatic and environmental impacts.

Homan said this directly saves the DOD money by fielding systems that work as intended in the field and extends the life of many of Eglin's systems.

The squadron issues weather watches, warnings and advisories that cover all of base's land and water ranges.  In Fiscal Year 2015, there were more than 3,200 WWAs issued for the range in order to protect the base community and infrastructure, Homan said.