![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20161118220646im_/http://www.usafe.af.mil/portals/8/images/Patches/usafe%20png%20small.png?ver=2016-04-28-083722-707)
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20161118220646im_/http://www.usafe.af.mil/portals/8/images/Patches/afafrica%20png%20small.png?ver=2016-04-28-083722-817)
As the air component for both U.S. European Command (USEUCOM), and U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM), USAFE-AFAFRICA executes the Air Force, EUCOM and AFRICOM missions with forward-based airpower and infrastructure to conduct and enable theater and global operations. USAFE directs air operations in a theater spanning three continents, covering more than 19 million square miles, containing 104 independent states, and possessing more than a quarter of the world's population and more than a quarter of the world's Gross Domestic Product.
During the Cold War, USAFE-AFAFRICA was a fight-in-place fighter force postured for a large-scale conflict. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the command has transitioned to an Air Expeditionary Force with a mobile and deployable mix of people and resources that can simultaneously operate in multiple locations.
Its role in Europe and Africa has expanded from war-fighting toinclude humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, as well as other non-traditional contingencies throughout its area of responsibility.
In peacetime, USAFE-AFAFRICA trains and equips U.S. Air Force units pledged to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).