From 1942 until 1983, what is now designated as Air Force Central Command was known as Ninth Air Force, and during the Cold War period it was one of two numbered Air Forces under Tactical Air Command. Its ties with U.S. Central Command began in 1980, when Ninth Air Force units were allotted to the newly established Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force, itself created in response to the failed rescue attempt of Iranian hostages that same year.
In 1983, the RDJTF was designated a separate Unified Command renamed United States Central Command with an area of responsibility heavily focused on the Middle East, and Ninth Air Force provided men and materiel necessary to form the U.S. Central Command Air Forces, or USCENTAF. This arrangement continued until 2008, when USCENTAF was redesignated as U.S. Air Force Central, with its commander dual-hatted as commander of Ninth Air Force until August 2009. At that time, the history and lineage of Ninth Air Force was assigned to USAFCENT and a new Ninth Air Force was activated with its own commander and a new, distinct lineage.