It is stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota operating RQ-4 Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) in the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) role.

[2] After it moved to Algeria as the first Marauder unit in that theater, arriving with just 15 aircraft and losing group commander Col. Alvord Rutherford over France en route, the 319th entered combat for the first time on 28 November, bombing and strafing warehouses, docks, and railroad yards at Sfax in Tunisia.

From then to March 1943, the group bombed German and Italian targets in Tunisia and Libya, including airfields and enemy shipping along the Mediterranean Coast.

The 319th trained in French Morocco from March, then returned to combat in June 1943, attacking enemy targets on Italian islands in the Mediterranean, including Sicily, Sardinia, and Pantelleria.

From bases in Algeria and Tunisia, the group supported the Allied invasion of Italy, bombing bridges and marshalling yards during the late summer and early autumn of 1943.

Later in the year, using North American B-25 Mitchell bombers the group attacked German supply lines in northern Italy, bombing bridges, marshalling yards, and roads.

In March, it earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for raids on marshalling yards in Rome and Florence that damaged enemy communications without destroying cultural monuments.

For supporting the Allied ground advance in Italy during April, May, and June 1944, the group earned the French Croix de Guerre with Palm.

During the summer, it bombed bridges over the Po River in northern Italy using B-25 bombers to block the stream of German supplies and reinforcements going southward.

The 319th Bombardment Group supported the invasion of southern France in August 1944 by attacking coastal batteries, radar stations, and bridges.

[2] In January 1945, the 319th returned to the United States, where it began to train with Douglas A-26 Invader aircraft for operations in the Pacific Ocean Theater.

[2] The group was activated again in the reserve under Air Defense Command (ADC) at Mitchel Field, New York in December 1946, although as a headquarters only, with no squadrons assigned.

[10] The 319th's stay at Mitchel ended when ConAC reorganized its reserve units under the wing base organization system in June 1949.

[16] Despite its designation as a fighter bomber group, its mission initially was in the air defense role and it was gained by ADC upon mobilization.

Consequently, in November 1956 the Air Force directed ConAC to convert three reserve fighter bomber wings to the troop carrier mission by September 1957.

During the summer of 2000, the group operated from MacDill Air Force Base, Florida as major repairs were made to the runways at Grand Forks.

In those cases, a 319th Air Expeditionary Group was activated as a provisional unit, deployed to a makeshift tent city somewhere in the arid desert of Southwest Asia.

The wing frequently deployed elements to Southwest Asia, occasionally being the major force provider for the 319th Air Expeditionary Group.