The 87th Squadron was reassigned directly to the 23d Air Division and the group's support functions, personnel, and equipment at Duluth were transferred to the newly organized 4787th Air Base Group. The group was redesignated as the 343d Tactical Fighter Group and activated at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska in November 1977 to serve as the headquarters for the two fighter squadrons of the 21st Composite Wing. These were the 43d Tactical Fighter Squadron, which had been flying McDonnell F-4 Phantom IIs at Elmendorf since 1970 and the recently activated 18th Tactical Fighter Squadron, flying the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II. The 21st Wing's other operational group was the 531st Aircraft Control and Warning Group, which controlled air defense units and stations throughout Alaska. The following year aircraft maintenance was transferred from the wing and three maintenance squadrons were added to the group's strength. The group was inactivated in January 1980. Its operational squadrons were reassigned directly to the 21st Wing, which converted from a composite wing to a standard fighter wing and became the 21st Tactical Fighter Wing. The personnel and equipment of the group's maintenance squadrons were transferred to squadrons assigned directly to the 21st Wing. The 343d became Eielson Air Force Base's host unit on 1 October 1981 as the 343d Composite Wing, when it replaced the 5010th Combat Support Group and absorbed the 5010th's personnel and equipment. The 25th Air Support Operations Squadron, flying the Cessna O-2 Skymaster, was transferred from the 5010th as the wing's initial operational squadron. In January 1982, the wing received its second operational squadron when the 18th Tactical Fighter Squadron moved from Elmendorf to Eielson with its Thunderbolt IIs and was again assigned to the 343d. That fall, the wing's maintenance organization was converted to the Production Oriented Maintenance Organization, and three new maintenance squadrons were activated to replace the existing single maintenance squadron. As Eielson's host organization, one of the wing's major collateral missions was to provide support to Strategic Air Command's 6th Strategic Wing, which conducted aerial refueling and reconnaissance missions from the base until becoming non-operational in June 1992. On 8 June 1984, the 343d Composite Wing was redesignated the 343d Tactical Fighter Wing. In July 1986, the 25th's O-2s were retired and replaced by North American Rockwell OV-10A Broncos. A little more than three years later, on 15 September 1989, the squadron inactivated.