The 485th Air Expeditionary Wing is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to Air Combat Command. As a provisional unit, the 485 AEW may be inactivated or activated at any time by Air Combat Command. The wing was last known to be active during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 at Tabuk Regional Airport, Saudi Arabia, in 2003.

The wing was first activated as the 485th Bombardment Group, a Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombardment group that served with Fifteenth Air Force during World War II. The group was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation for its action in a mission to Vienna, Austria in 1944. The 485th returned to the United States in May 1945, where it converted to Boeing B-29 Superfortresss, training with Second Air Force. When the war ended in August 1945, the group remained at its training base and became one of the original ten bombardment groups assigned to Strategic Air Command (SAC). The group was inactivated in 1946 and its aircraft, personnel and equipment were transferred to the 97th Bombardment Group.

The second forerunner of the wing was the 585th Tactical Missile Group, which was stationed at Bitburg Air Base, Germany from 1956 to 1962. The 585th operated forward deployed TM-61 Matador cruise missiles from its home station. Later these missiles were replaced by TM-76 Mace (later MGM-13) missiles. It was inactivated in 1962 and its operational squadron transferred to the 38th Tactical Missile Wing.

In 1983, the two groups were consolidated as the 485th Tactical Missile Wing, a Ground Launched Cruise Missile (GLCM) wing stationed at Florennes Air Base, Belgium. The wing was inactivated as a result of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1989. In 2003 the wing was converted to provisional status as the 485th Air Expeditionary Wing and allotted to Air Combat Command.

When activated in 2003, the 485 AEW was a composite wing of 24 McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle fighter aircraft and 46 Lockheed C-130H Hercules airlift aircraft and more than 3500 personnel from 82 different locations. The C-130s represented one of the largest combat groupings of this aircraft ever.

The wing was activated for Operation Iraqi Freedom and was composed of aircraft and regular Air Force personnel from Langley AFB, Virginia and Eglin AFB, Florida. It also included aircraft and guardsmen from the West Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Delaware Air National Guards, and reservists from Niagara Falls.

By 3 May 2003, the C-130 portion of the wing had flown 1199 missions, 3354 sorties, 7451 hours, hauled 9382 tons of cargo and 8800 passengers, and boasted a mission capable rate greater than 90 percent. When the F-15s completed flight operations 17 April they had compiled 581 sorties, flown more than 4000 hours and maintained a mission capable rate greater than 83 percent.^{[citation needed]}

The wing was inactivated in early May 2003 with the last members returning to the United States in September of that year.^{[citation needed]}