The Maryland Air National Guard is headquartered in Baltimore, and its commander is Brigadier General Drew Dougherty.

Maryland ANG units are trained and equipped by the Air Force and are operationally gained by a Major Command of the USAF if federalized.

State missions include disaster relief in times of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and forest fires, search and rescue, protection of vital public services, and support to civil defense.

Shortly before the U.S. entry into World War II, the unit was transferred to the 59th Observation Group (now the 59th Medical Wing) as part of a larger reorganization of the U.S. Army Air Forces.

The unit soon converted to F-86 Sabre, and in 1957 relocated to the Glenn L. Martin Company Airport, whose longer runway was necessary to support jet operations.

Maryland gained a second flying unit – and its first group-level headquarters – in 1955 when the 135th Air Resupply Group was organized at Harbor Field.

Equipped with Curtiss C-46 Commando transports and SA-16 Albatross seaplanes, its mission was the covert infiltration, resupply, and extraction of special forces.

The spring of 1968 brought considerable activity, with both the 135th and 175th being called out to help quell rioting in Baltimore following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and elements of the 175th being federalized and deployed to Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., in response to the USS Pueblo (AGER-2) in Korea.

Despite the end of the Cold War, the Maryland Air National Guard remained heavily involved in operations around the world through the remainder of the century.

A-10s from the 175th were likewise kept busy patrolling the skies over Bosnia-Herzegovina as a part of the U.N./NATO task force and enforcing the “no-fly” zone over southern Iraq, where it was called upon to fly retaliatory strikes against Iraqi targets.

Beginning in 2006, wing personnel were deeply involved in the test and evaluation process and in September 2007, the 104th Fighter Squadron became the first unit to take the A-10C into combat, when it deployed to Iraq.

Since the September 11 attacks, 2001, members of the Maryland Air National Guard have repeatedly volunteered or been mobilized to take part in the Global War on Terrorism.

In 2004 multiple members of the 135th APF were mobilized to backfill the 436th APS at Dover AFB DE and later forward deployed to support the 8th EAMS at Al Udeid AB Qatar.

From 2004–present, members of the 135th APF(later re-designated as the 175th Small Air Terminal) have deployed multiple times to various locations in the CENTCOM AOR in support of ongoing operations there.