A sounder of 20 A-10s from the 354th Fighter Squadron deployed from Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, along with approximately 400 airmen and support personnel from the Arizona base. “Over the last six months, the men and women of the 354th FS and 355th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron have done a superb job preparing to support operations in Afghanistan,” said Lt. Col. Daniel Luce, 354th FS commander. The unit’s Warthogs began departing for Bagram on Sept. 26, two days after the first maintainers and operators left, according to an Oct. 3 release. This contingent is replacing a mixed group of Air National Guard A-10s from Arkansas’ 188th Fighter Wing at Ft. Smith and Maryland’s 175th Wing near Baltimore that arrived in Afghanistan in early July. The Davis-Monthan A-10s will serve at Bagram as the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing’s close air support package, flying strike missions in support of coalition operations and top cover for personnel recovery missions. (Davis-Monthan report by A1C Saphire Cook)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth visited the site of U.S. Space Command’s future home Dec. 12 and endorsed the move to establish the headquarters in Alabama after years of political back and forth.
