Fairchild Republic A-10C Thunderbolt II attack/close air support (CAS) aircraft from the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) 23rd Wing at Moody Air Force Base (AFB) in Georgia have deployed to Andersen AFB on the Pacific island of Guam as part of a Dynamic Force Employment Operation.
In total, six A-10Cs from the 23rd Wing’s 74th Fighter Squadron (FS) ‘Flying Tigers’ arrived at Andersen AFB on October 23 as the 23rd Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW). The aircraft flew to the Indo-Pacific region to support a Dynamic Force Employment Operation and demonstrated the USAF’s commitment to maintaining readiness and enabling rapid deployments of aircraft both within and across different theatres of operation to execute missions against adversary forces in unpredictable ways. This deployment was supported by Boeing KC-135R/T Stratotankers assigned to the 459th Air Refueling Wing (ARW) at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
Dynamic Force Employment Operations are designed to allow the USAF’s Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) command to exercise its ability to generate combat air power from dynamic force elements while continuing to move, manoeuvre and sustain forces in geographically separated and contested environments.
Affectionately known as the ‘Warthog’, the six A-10Cs join a number of Rockwell B-1B Lancers at the Guam base. The USAF deployed the variable-sweep wing, supersonic-capable strategic bombers to Andersen AFB as part of a Bomber Task Force (BTF) mission to the Indo-Pacific as tensions in the region – specifically between China and Taiwan – continue to grow.
Both deployments also come after North Korea fired the most missiles in a single year – including the firing of a ballistic missile over Japan on October 3 – since Kim Jong-Un, the nation’s supreme leader, rose to power in 2011. It also comes as North and South Korean forces exchange warning shots over the maritime border following claims of ‘intrusions’ and China renews its solidarity with Russia as it continues its war on Ukraine.
