701st Air Defense Squadron

For most of its existence, the unit was located at Fort Fisher Air Force Station near Kure Beach, North Carolina.

With the closure of Fort Fisher AFS in the late 1980s, the 701st was moved to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia and collocated with First Air Force headquarters.

As part of the transition, active duty 701st military personnel were replaced with members of the Florida Air National Guard.

After the 11 September attacks, the role of homeland defense was greatly expanded necessitating a restructuring of First Air Force units.

Part of this expansion was the inactivation of the 701st and its replacement by the 601st Air Operations Group.