The opinicus, with the strength of a lion and the bold flight of the eagle, symbolizes the functions of the 50th Space Wing.

[13] In summer 1953, the 50th Fighter-Bomber Wing was transferred to Europe, with much of the wing's personnel and equipment sailing across the Atlantic Ocean on the Military Sea Transportation Service's USNS General M. B. Stewart, while the aircrew flew across the North Atlantic.

[14] Almost immediately after arriving in Germany, the 50th Fighter-Bomber Wing participated in Exercise Monte Carlo, which was designed to demonstrate NATO air defense force capabilities.

In 1954, elements of the 50th Fighter-Bomber Wing spent six weeks at Wheelus Field, Libya, training in air-to-air and ground attack operations, scoring higher in both categories than any other unit in Twelfth Air Force.

In 1955 the 21 FBW took top honors at the United States Air Forces in Europe aerial gunnery competition at Wheelus Field, and on 21 October 1955 it began to transition to the F-86H Sabre.

On 14 March 1955, the 50th Fighter-Bomber Wing gained the 69th Pilotless Bomber Squadron, which operated the MGM-1 Matador cruise missile system.

[16] On 15 April 1956, the 50th Fighter-Bomber Wing began to move to Toul-Rosières Air Base, France, fully transitioning by 1 August 1956.

On 8 August 1956, the 50th Fighter-Bomber Wing assumed responsibility for the 7352d USAF Hospital, before relinquishing command on 25 September 1957.

In December 1959, the 496th Tactical Fighter Squadron began converting to Convair F-102 Delta Dagger interceptors.

Soon after, United States Air Forces in Europe selected the 81st Tactical Fighter Squadron to be the first to assume the Wild Weasel Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses mission set, equipping it with the Wild Weasel variant of the F-4E, and later the F-F-4G Wild Weasel V. On 12 June 1971, the 81st Tactical Fighter Squadron was moved to Zweibrücken Air Base, Germany and operationally subordinated to the 86th Tactical Fighter Wing, although it administratively remained part of the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing until it fully transitioned over on 15 July 1971.

The success of the exercise resulted in the Project Oriented Maintenance Organization being rolled out across all of United States Air Forces in Europe.

[27] In 1978, United States Air Forces in Europe announced that the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing would be the first to test and field the General Dynamics F-16A Fighting Falcon, as well as its F-16B two-seater variant.

The first F-16As arrived at Hahn Air Base on 19 April 1979 and began upgrading the airbase's facilities to accommodate the new aircraft.

50th Tactical Fighter Wing F-16s frequently deployed to Zaragoza Air Base, Spain and Incirlik Air Base, Turkey to perform air-to-air and air-to-ground training to achieve full operational readiness, which was declared in April 1983.

[30] In March 1984, the 50 TFW participated in the Green Flag exercise at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, engaging in realistic combat training and participated in NATO exercises, with two F-16As conducting landings and takeoffs on the German Autobahn highways.

In 1986, the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing began replacing its F-16As and F-16Bs with the more advanced F-16Cs and F-16Ds, fully phasing out the first generation F-16s in less than a year.

[31] When Iraq executed its Invasion of Kuwait in 1991, the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing quickly mobilized its forces for deployment, sending the 10th Tactical Fighter Squadron and 30 F-16C Fighting Falcons as part of Operation Desert Shield on 29 December 1990.

The squadron was retasked to hunt down Scud missiles, which were striking coalition military targets and Israeli population centers.

Throughout the entire campaign, the 10th Tactical Fighter Squadron had only lost one aircraft, with its pilot being taken as a prisoner of war.

After hostilities ceased, 10 TFS forces enforced the ceasefire accords through combat air patrols.

[32] Due to the fall of the Soviet Union, the United States and NATO began to draw down its high posture in Europe, resulting in the inactivation of the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing and closure of Hahn Air Base on 30 September 1991.

On 30 April 1992, the 4th Space Operations Squadron was activated to fly the Military Strategic and Tactical Relay (Milstar) communications satellite constellation.

3 SOPS later transferred a Defense Satellite Communications System spacecraft from its orbit over Europe to over Somalia, providing space support for the United Nations' Unified Task Force.

It also closed the Defense Meteorological Support Program satellite operations centers at Fairchild AFB and Offutt AFB and transferred it to Suitland, Maryland, where the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was establishing a new DMSP satellite operations facility.

The DMSP was relinquished to NOAA later that year, resulting in the inactivation of the 6th Space Operations Squadron on 30 September 1998.

[45] In response to the September 11 attacks, the United States and NATO forces initiated Operation Enduring Freedom.

The 50th Space Wing provided satellite communications, global positioning system enhancements, and deployed personnel to support counterterrorism operations.

On 1 June 2003, the 50th Logistics Readiness Flight, formerly the 50th Supply Squadron, was reactivated and assigned to the 50th Mission Support Group.

In 2010, the 50th Space Wing regained responsibility for the Defense Meteorological Support Program, standing up Detachment 1, 50th Operations Group at Suitland, Maryland.

The 50th Space Wing operated a number of other experimental systems, including the Boeing X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, Automated Navigation and Guidance Experiment for Local Space (ANGELS) from 2016 to 2017, and ORS-5 and the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter Augmented Geosynchronous Laboratory Experiment (EAGLE) in 2018.