The 168th Wing is a unit of the Alaska Air National Guard, stationed at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. Before it was redesignated in February 2016, it was known as the 168th Air Refueling Wing. If activated to federal service as a USAF unit, the 168th is primarily gained by Pacific Air Forces, while its 213th Space Warning Squadron is gained by Space Force.

From 1964 to 1967, the wing was an airlift unit of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, flying Lockheed C-121 Constellations as the 168th Air Transport Group (later 168th Military Airlift Group). It was inactivated when the Pennsylvania mission changed to psychological warfare. It was reactivated in Alaska in 1990.

The 168th Wing provides combined operations of air refueling, missile warning, and space surveillance. The unit supports for Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Northern Command, Space Force and the Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region. Besides its federally directed missions, as a unit of the Alaska National Guard, the 168th Wing is an asset of the Governor of Alaska, who can direct the unit to respond to emergencies declared or missions required within the state. The wing is the only Arctic region air refueling unit in the United States. The unit transfers more fuel than any other Air National Guard tanker wing, because nearly all receivers are active duty aircraft, many of which are on operational missions.

The 168th Wing consists of the following units:

Since 1950, the Air National Guard had been organized into wings, self-sustaining organizations, made up of functional groups. Because it was not practical to put an entire wing on a single installation for day to day operations, wing squadrons were located on bases as “augmented squadrons” containing support elements needed to sustain operations. By the law at the time Guardsmen could only be activated as members of a mobilized unit. This meant that, even when only operational and maintenance elements were needed for mobilization, the entire “augmented squadron” had to be called to active duty, including unneeded administrative personnel. The response was to replace the “augmented squadron” with a group including functional squadrons that could be mobilized as a group, or individually.

In 1964, the 140th Air Transport Squadron at Olmsted Air Force Base was reorganized to form the 168th Air Transport Group. In addition to the 140th, units assigned into the group were the 168th Material Squadron, 168th Support Squadron, and the 168th USAF Dispensary. The group operated the Lockheed C-121 Constellation. In January 1966 the group became the 168th Military Airlift Group.

Following Operation Power Pack, the United States military intervention during the 1965 crisis in the Dominican Republic, Robert McNamara, the United States Secretary of Defense directed the Air Force to develop a capability to disrupt civilian broadcasting networks and guerilla command and control networks. In response, Tactical Air Command began to test a tactical electronic warfare support system that would be installed on C-121s, named Coronet Solo. Coronet Solo aircraft would be able to join or disrupt commercial radio and television and to broadcast prerecorded programs, in addition to having an electronic countermeasures capability.

Threatened by the closure of Olmsted (now Harrisburg Air National Guard Base) and by the downsizing of all conventionally powered transport aircraft, the National Guard Bureau volunteered the 168th for the Coronet Solo mission capability in 1967. The 168th and its components were inactivated and its resources were transferred to the new 193d Tactical Electronic Warfare Group, which was activated to perform the Coronet Solo mission.