The last major USAF presence in France ceases operations more than a decade after USAF’s 774th Expeditionary Air Base Group set up shop at Istres Air Base on the French Riviera to support NATO military operations in the Balkans.
The Air Force’s BACN may be cooked—the service plans to retire its entire E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node fleet in fiscal 2028 and equip aircraft to use satellite communications instead.