Altus Air Force Base (AFB) (IATA: LTS, ICAO: KLTS, FAA LID: LTS) is a United States Air Force base located approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) east-northeast of Altus, Oklahoma.

The host unit at Altus AFB is the 97th Air Mobility Wing (97 AMW), assigned to the Air Education and Training Command Nineteenth Air Force. The wing's mission is to provide C-17 Globemaster III and KC-135 Stratotanker formal school initial and advanced specialty training programs for up to 3000 students annually.

Altus AFB was established in 1943 as Altus Army Airfield (AAF). The 97 AMW commander is Colonel Jon T. "Ty" Thomas. The Command Chief Master Sergeant is Chief Master Sergeant Robert Austin.

Altus AFB, though it's host 97th AMW provides quality training to produce the finest combat-ready aircrew members for the United States Air Force. The wing in conjunction with its training mission, maintains its instructor force maintain operational currency so that they, as highly qualified combat-ready aircrew members, can deploy to augment world-wide contingencies. The 97th maintains approximately 500 mobility personnel ready to deploy all over the world in a moments notice in support of national interests.

Altus AFB supports about 2,000 permanent military personnel. Furthermore, about 3,000 military personnel and their families live on base and a large number of military personnel and their families live off base. The surrounding community has about 1,000 military retirees who depend on base facilities. The base provides direct employment for about 2,500 civilian personnel.

The 97 AMW consists of the following major units:

Set in the cotton fields of southwestern Oklahoma, Altus Air Force Base first became home to military aircraft and personnel in 1943. With an average of more than 300 days of weather favorable to flying each year, a generally flat landscape and few obstructions, the base was then, and is still, considered ideally situated as a suitible location for airmen to hone their flying skills. Originally called Altus Army Air Field (AAF), construction of the new base began in May 1942. Over the next five decades, the base became known as one of the U.S. Air Force's premier air mobility training locations.

The base became operational on January 1943, being assigned to the UAAF Gulf Coast Training Center. The mission of the base being the training of new pilots on multi-engine aircraft. The primary training aircraft were the Cessna Cessna AT-17 "Bobcat" and the Curtiss AT-9 "Jeep". After students became proficient with these aircraft, they transferred to units that would prepare them to fly the actual type of aircraft they would use in combat over Europe and in the Pacific theaters during World War II. At the end of hostilities in Europe, Altus AAF was slated for inactivation and on 15 May 1945 placed on temporary inactive status.

Between 1945 and 1953 Altus would serve as a scrap yard for hundreds of WWII era military aircraft. In 1945 the famous B-17F "Memphis Belle" was discovered at Altus awaiting disposal. The aircraft was saved and transferred to the city of Memphis, Tennessee where it was displayed until 2005.

The base would only sit idle for a few years. The onset of the Korean War in June 1950 created the need for more men to fly and service aircraft. During the early years of the conflict, many WWII airfields were examined for reactivation. On August 1, 1953, Altus Air Force Base was reactivated as a training base for transport aircraft. The C-47 "Skytrain" and the C-45 "Expediter" were the main aircraft assigned to the base, run briefly by the 63d Troop Carrier Wing from 8 January until October 15, 1953 under the watch of the Tactical Air Command (TAC). During the 1950s, the base would undergo many changes and would change hands from TAC to the Strategic Air Command (SAC). Later that year, on November 18, the 96th Bombardment Wing, Medium, (96 BMW) would arrive and begin operations with three bomber squadrons and one air refueling squadron. The squadrons eventually flew the first all jet-engined bomber, the B-47 Stratojet and the KC-97 Stratotanker, a dual-purpose cargo and air-refueling aircraft. By the end of the decade, both of these aircraft would be replaced by aircraft still in the Air Force inventory, the KC-135 Stratotanker and the B-52 Stratofortress. The KC-135 was the first all jet-engined air-refueling aircraft and the B-52 still remains the backbone of the USAF bomber fleet. When the 96th BW moved to Dyess AFB, Texas, the 11th Bombardment Wing (Heavy) activated and stood on alert during the Cold War. As the base moved into the 1960s, more changes would occur.