Sepulveda Air National Guard Station, Van Nuys California
Longitude: -118.479291
Current Role: Active Sepulveda Air Guard Station supporting the California Air National Guard's 195th Operations Group and 261st Cyberspace Operations Squadron in combat communications, cyber mission assurance, and domestic operations support.
Sepulveda Air Guard Station is an active California Air National Guard station in Van Nuys, California, on Victory Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley. It is not a flying base and does not have an ICAO identifier. Its military meaning comes from a different kind of Air Force mission: combat communications, cyber mission assurance, and state and federal support from a compact urban installation that links the California Air National Guard to the Air Force's wider C5ISR, cyber, and communications enterprise.
The station's current official Air National Guard location page identifies it as Sepulveda Air Guard Station at 15900 Victory Boulevard and describes its mission area as combat communications. The same official page lists the 261st Combat Communications Squadron and explains that the unit provides a mobile capability to identify, pursue, and mitigate cyberspace threats affecting critical Air Force network links and nodes in support of theater and functional operations. The 195th Wing's own 261st Cyberspace Operations Squadron page places the unit in Van Nuys and describes its mission as cyber mission assurance and threat mitigation support to critical infrastructure, key resources, and California domestic operations.
Sepulveda should therefore be understood as a modern Air National Guard mission station rather than as an airport, airfield, or conventional Air Force base. It sits in the same Van Nuys aviation and military ecosystem that earlier included Van Nuys Municipal Airport, the 146th Wing's long San Fernando Valley flying history, and California Guard command, control, warning, communications, and later cyber units. The present station preserves that San Fernando Valley Guard presence after the flying mission shifted elsewhere and after the 195th Wing emerged as a statewide, non-flying, non-kinetic mission organization.
Mission Evolution
The roots of the Sepulveda mission reach back into the postwar and Cold War transformation of the California Air National Guard. The 195th Wing's official history traces one part of that lineage to the 599th Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion, activated at Drew Field, Florida, on 30 March 1944. After World War II, that lineage was reactivated in 1948 as the 162d Aircraft Control and Warning Group of the California Air National Guard. The same official history states that the unit was mobilized during the Korean War, returned to California afterward, and in 1953 was redesignated the 162d Tactical Control Group at Van Nuys Air National Guard Base. At that point, the San Fernando Valley Guard mission was still tied closely to air defense warning, tactical control, and the wider air-defense network.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the mission moved away from classic aircraft-control and warning language and toward mobile communications. The 195th Wing history states that the 162d Group headquarters moved to North Highlands Air National Guard Station in 1961 and became the 162d Communications Group, Mobile. By then, the 222d, 234th, and 261st combat communications units were part of the group. In 1966 the organization became the 162d Mobile Communications Group, and in 1976 it became the 162d Combat Communications Group. Those redesignations show the doctrinal shift that eventually made a station like Sepulveda valuable: the Guard was no longer only watching airspace or operating aircraft. It was building deployable communications capacity that could support air operations, joint exercises, contingency operations, and later network defense.
The Van Nuys flying layer followed a different path. The 146th Airlift Wing traces its history to the 115th Observation Squadron, founded in 1924 at Clover Field in Santa Monica, and the wing's official fact sheet states that in December 1988 the 146th began moving from its long-time home in Van Nuys to a new state-owned installation at Point Mugu. That move is important for understanding Sepulveda because it separates the San Fernando Valley's earlier Air National Guard flying identity from the later non-flying station identity. The airplanes and the 146th Wing's primary airlift mission shifted to what became Channel Islands Air National Guard Station. The Van Nuys area, however, remained important for communications, operations-group, cyber, and support activity.
The modern organizational turning point came in 2015. The 195th Wing fact sheet states that the 195th was reactivated and redesignated as a wing on 1 September 2015, based at Beale Air Force Base and assigned to the California Air National Guard. The same fact sheet describes the 195th as the hub for the California Air National Guard's non-flying, non-kinetic global effects operations, leading in cyber, intelligence, and space mission areas. In that structure, the 195th Operations Group is listed at Van Nuys, and the 261st Cyberspace Operations Squadron is also listed at Van Nuys. The old airfield-centered Guard geography had become a distributed mission network, with Sepulveda serving as one of its urban nodes.
The 2019 opening of a new 195th Operations Group facility at Sepulveda confirmed that the station was not a leftover remnant. It was still adapting to an expanded mission. The 195th Wing reported that the Operations Group christened a new facility at Sepulveda Air National Guard Station on 5 April 2019, after the stand-up of the 195th Wing created an immediate need for more space. The project added an annex to the group's main building and was tied directly to growth after 2015. This was a small construction event compared with the creation of a major air base, but it mattered because it showed that Sepulveda remained an active mission platform inside the new cyber, communications, and intelligence wing structure.
Operational Role
Sepulveda's operational role is best described as ground-based Air Force mission support. The official Air National Guard location page says the station performs combat communications, which it describes as deploying, operating, and maintaining strategic emergency communications worldwide in peacetime and combat environments. That is the core of the station's identity. It exists to support communications and network-dependent operations rather than to launch aircraft.
The 261st mission gives that role its modern cyber meaning. The official ANG location page describes the 261st Combat Communications Squadron as providing a mobile precision capability to identify, pursue, and mitigate cyberspace threats affecting critical links and nodes within the Air Force Network. The 195th Wing's unit page uses the current Cyberspace Operations Squadron name and describes the mission as cyber mission assurance and threat mitigation support to U.S. critical infrastructure, key resources, and California domestic operations. In practical terms, the station supports personnel and systems that protect networks, assure communications, and connect state and federal response needs to Air Force cyber and communications expertise.
The station also supports ordinary Guard readiness functions that make those missions possible. A 2026 195th Wing public-affairs article describes newly enlisted 261st Cyberspace Operations Squadron members meeting during unit training assemblies at Sepulveda while awaiting Air Force Basic Military Training. The article also connects the 261st to cyber and intelligence career fields, and it places Sepulveda inside the training, recruiting, and accession pipeline of the 195th Wing. That is a different kind of readiness than runway operations, but it is still military readiness: recruits, trainees, cyber specialists, intelligence personnel, communications technicians, and supervisors all need a home station where they drill, train, organize, and prepare for state and federal missions.
The operational role has also grown with the 195th Wing's statewide mission set. The 195th Wing fact sheet states that the wing provides critical information, electromagnetic effects, and secure networks, and its vision is framed around C5ISR and information superiority in multi-domain operations. Sepulveda is one of the places where that concept becomes physical. Its buildings, drill assemblies, operations group functions, and squadron activity provide the local infrastructure for a statewide organization whose missions are distributed across Beale, Van Nuys, San Diego, Vandenberg, Mather, and other California locations.
Units, Organizations, and Systems
The principal unit associated with Sepulveda today is the 261st Cyberspace Operations Squadron. Official pages use both the current cyberspace operations terminology and the older combat communications terminology in ways that reflect a transition in mission language. The Air National Guard location page lists the 261st Combat Communications Squadron and describes a combat communications mission. The 195th Wing's unit page lists the 261st Cyberspace Operations Squadron and describes cyber mission assurance and threat mitigation. For this station, those are not separate histories so much as linked phases of the same communications-to-cyber mission family.
The 195th Operations Group is also central. The 195th Wing fact sheet places the 195th Operations Group at Van Nuys and identifies the 261st Cyberspace Operations Squadron as one of its subordinate units. The 2019 195th Wing article about the new facility specifically says the 195th Wing's Operations Group at Sepulveda Air National Guard Station christened the building. That makes Sepulveda a group-level site within the 195th Wing, not merely a detached armory or recruitment office.
The broader parent organization is the 195th Wing of the California Air National Guard. The wing was reactivated in 2015, based at Beale Air Force Base, and built from a transformation that began with the older 162d Combat Communications Group. The 195th describes itself as a hub for non-flying, non-kinetic operations in cyber, intelligence, and space. Sepulveda's importance lies in how it supports that unusual statewide wing structure. The station is one of the local nodes that lets California keep specialized missions close to the technical workforce and metropolitan infrastructure of Southern California.
The historical San Fernando Valley Guard environment also included the 146th Wing. The 146th is no longer the station's primary identity, but its history explains why Van Nuys was a familiar Air National Guard place before Sepulveda became primarily a combat communications and cyber station. The 146th's official history traces a Southern California flying lineage to the 1920s, and its fact sheet states that the wing began moving from Van Nuys to Point Mugu in December 1988. That transfer helps explain the shift from an airfield-centered San Fernando Valley Guard presence to the more specialized non-flying mission that Sepulveda represents today.
Facilities and Physical Layout
Sepulveda Air Guard Station is a compact urban station at 15900 Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys. It is not arranged around runways, hangars, or aircraft ramps. Instead, its physical plant is built around administrative, training, communications, operations, support, and readiness functions for a ground-based Air National Guard mission. The station's value comes from secure work areas, communications infrastructure, training spaces, unit offices, drill facilities, and the ability to support cyber and combat communications personnel in a dense metropolitan region.
The 2019 facility-annex project provides a useful glimpse of the station's physical evolution. The 195th Wing article states that the 195th Operations Group christened a new facility at Sepulveda on 5 April 2019. The project added an annex to the group's main building because the stand-up of the 195th Wing in 2015 created an immediate need to house new personnel. The article's details, including layout, power, network access, and port placement, are small but revealing. A modern cyber and communications station grows through workspace, network access, power distribution, information systems, and people. Its critical infrastructure is often inside office-like buildings rather than on a flight line.
The station's urban setting also matters. Van Nuys places Sepulveda near the Los Angeles basin's aerospace, communications, information-technology, emergency-management, and defense-labor ecosystems. That does not mean every mission happens locally. The official ANG description emphasizes deployable communications that can operate anywhere in the world. But the home station benefits from being inside a major metropolitan area where technically skilled Guard members can maintain civilian careers while also serving in specialized cyber and communications roles.
Role in the Wider Military Network
Sepulveda's wider military role is as a local node in a statewide and national network, not as an isolated base. The California Air National Guard is distributed by design. The 195th Wing fact sheet lists its headquarters at Beale Air Force Base, its ISR group and several squadrons at Beale and Mather, and the 195th Operations Group and 261st at Van Nuys, with other units at San Diego and Vandenberg. Sepulveda therefore belongs to a networked wing whose value comes from specialized units spread across California rather than concentrated at one airfield.
In that network, Sepulveda connects Southern California to the 195th Wing's cyber and operations group missions. The 195th Wing's own mission statement emphasizes critical information, electromagnetic effects, and secure networks. Those are state and federal requirements that depend on units able to operate in normal peacetime, domestic emergencies, exercises, and combatant-command support. The 261st's cyber mission assurance role ties Sepulveda to Air Force network defense, critical infrastructure support, and California domestic operations.
Sepulveda also illustrates the Air National Guard's broader movement from Cold War air-defense and flying-unit structures toward information-age missions. The official 195th history moves from World War II aircraft-warning lineage to Cold War tactical control and mobile communications, then to combat communications, and finally to the 2015 wing structure centered on cyber, intelligence, space, C5ISR, and non-kinetic operations. Sepulveda is a physical expression of that institutional change. It is a small station, but it represents a large doctrinal shift: military power increasingly depends on assured networks, resilient communications, information operations, and technically skilled personnel.
Current Status
Sepulveda Air Guard Station remains active. The Air National Guard location page lists the station at 15900 Victory Boulevard, Van Nuys, and identifies its mission type as ground-support combat communications. The 195th Wing continues to list the 261st Cyberspace Operations Squadron in Van Nuys, and a 2026 195th Wing article confirms that new 261st enlistees meet at Sepulveda Air National Guard Station during unit training assemblies. The station should therefore be recorded as active, non-flying, and Air National Guard controlled.
The correct current name is Sepulveda Air Guard Station. Sepulveda Air National Guard Station remains a common and official-public-affairs style name in recent 195th Wing articles, but the Air National Guard location page uses Sepulveda Air Guard Station.
The station has no ICAO identifier because it is not a current airfield. It is located in Van Nuys near, but not on the basis of, the broader San Fernando Valley aviation landscape. The 146th Airlift Wing's relocation to Point Mugu and the 195th Wing's non-flying mission structure are the key distinctions that keep Sepulveda from being confused with Van Nuys Airport, Channel Islands Air National Guard Station, or the former Van Nuys Air National Guard Base flying history.
Chronology
- 1924 The 115th Observation Squadron was founded at Clover Field in Santa Monica, creating an early Southern California National Guard aviation lineage later associated with the 146th Airlift Wing.
- 1944-03-30 The 599th Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion, part of the later 195th Wing lineage, was activated at Drew Field, Florida.
- 1948-05-13 The unit lineage associated with the later 162d and 195th mission was reactivated as the 162d Aircraft Control and Warning Group of the California Air National Guard.
- 1951-05-01 The 162d was mobilized for stateside service during the Korean War period.
- 1953 The organization returned to California and was redesignated the 162d Tactical Control Group at Van Nuys Air National Guard Base.
- 1961-03-01 The group headquarters moved to North Highlands Air National Guard Station and became the 162d Communications Group, Mobile; the 222d, 234th, and 261st combat communications units were associated with the group by that period.
- 1966 The 162d Communications Group, Mobile, was redesignated the 162d Mobile Communications Group.
- 1971-05-15 The 195th began as a Tactical Airlift Group assigned to the 146th Tactical Airlift Wing at Van Nuys Municipal Airport.
- 1973 The 195th Tactical Airlift Group received the C-130B model while still part of the Van Nuys flying mission context.
- 1974-09-30 The 195th Tactical Airlift Group and assigned squadrons were inactivated as the post-Vietnam drawdown reduced airlift requirements.
- 1976-02-10 The 162d Mobile Communications Group became the 162d Combat Communications Group, reflecting the mature combat-communications identity that later shaped Sepulveda's mission family.
- 1988-12 The 146th Airlift Wing began moving from Van Nuys to Point Mugu, separating the main California ANG airlift mission from the San Fernando Valley.
- 2014-09 The 162d Combat Communications Group headquarters relocated to Beale Air Force Base.
- 2015-09-01 The 195th was reactivated and redesignated as the 195th Wing; its 195th Operations Group and 261st Cyberspace Operations Squadron became part of the new statewide non-flying mission structure.
- 2019-04-05 The 195th Operations Group christened a new facility annex at Sepulveda Air National Guard Station, reflecting growth after the 2015 wing stand-up.
- 2025-12-07 261st Cyberspace Operations Squadron student-flight members met at Sepulveda Air National Guard Station during unit training assembly, according to a 195th Wing article published in 2026.
- Present Sepulveda Air Guard Station remains an active California Air National Guard station in Van Nuys supporting the 261st Cyberspace Operations Squadron and 195th Wing combat communications, cyber, and operations-group missions.
Information sources (10)
- WEBAir National Guard
Sepulveda Air Guard Station | California
- WEB195th Wing
261st Cyberspace Operations Squadron
- WEB195th Wing
195th Wing CA Air National Guard
- WEB195th Wing
History
- WEB195th Wing
New Facility Enhances Mission Capability
- WEB195th Wing
261st COS prepares enlistees through student flight program
- WEB146th Airlift Wing
146th Airlift Wing Fact Sheet
- WEB146th Airlift Wing
History of the 146th Airlift Wing
- PDFDoD DENIX
Installation Index with Sepulveda Air Guard Station FFID CA957282886800
- PDFDoD DENIX
Status of Active Installations, BRAC Locations, and FUDS Properties Achieving Final Response Complete Before FY21