Keesler Air Force Base (IATA: BIX, ICAO: KBIX, FAA LID: BIX) is a United States Air Force base located in Biloxi, a city along the Gulf Coast in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States.

The base is named in honor of aviator 2d Lt Samuel Reeves Keesler Jr., a Mississippi native killed in France during the First World War.

In early January 1941, Biloxi city officials assembled a formal offer to invite the United States Army to build a base to support the World War II training buildup.

On 14 June 1941, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded contracts totaling $10 million to build Biloxi's technical training school.

Keesler personnel began processing veteran ground troops and combat crews who had returned from duty overseas for additional training and follow-on assignments.

The number of men who went through basic training wound down markedly after the end of World War II, and it was discontinued at Keesler on 30 June 1946.

In early 1949, the Radio Operations School transferred to Keesler from Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.

This included limited flight training operations in the T-28 Trojan for Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF) student pilots.

As a result, Airmen trained at Keesler received a Career Educational Certificate from the newly established Community College of the Air Force.

This opportunity was further expanded in April 1977, when Keesler graduates became eligible to apply their technical training towards an Associate of Arts degree.

"(81 TRW Brief History 2011) Keesler's student load dropped to an all-time low after the Vietnam War ended.

Keesler acquired Chanute's weather forecasting courses and Lowry's meteorology and precision measurement equipment laboratory training programs during 1992 and 1993.

On 29 August 2005 Keesler sustained a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina, which made its third Gulf Coast landfall as a Category 3 storm approximately 30 miles (48 km) to the west.

Although non-essential personnel and Hurricane Hunter planes had been evacuated in advance, "drastic damage" was sustained by the base's industrial and housing areas.

Much of the training they receive is in the field of electronics, such as wideband maintenance, ground radio, information technology, avionics, cryptography.

The wing also trains meteorology personnel, radar operations, air traffic control, Aviation Resource Management (ARMS), and tropical cyclone forecasting.