Airmen assigned to the 11th Air Task Force move cargo at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, on Dec. 12, 2025. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam — A new type of Air Force expeditionary unit designed to deploy in a crisis is wrapping up its first Indo-Pacific mission, testing how the service might fight and survive across vast distances under threat from advanced missiles.
The 11th Air Task Force — one of six such units activated in September and October 2024 — is the first to deploy. About 300 airmen began a six-month mission in July on Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, Col. Brett Cassidy, the task force commander, told Stars and Stripes.
“When you think of an air expeditionary wing, that’s basically what we are,” Cassidy, a CV-22 Osprey and C-130 Hercules pilot, said by phone from Guam on Monday.
Airmen assigned to the 11th Air Task Force load cargo at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, on Dec. 12, 2025. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
The task force has been honing the Air Force’s agile combat employment concept, or ACE — dispersing aircraft to smaller, less predictable airfields to complicate enemy targeting in wartime. The strategy has taken on urgency as China expands its missile arsenal and as U.S. planners consider scenarios involving Taiwan.
On Saipan, 135 miles north of Guam, the task force operated from the island’s civilian airport, setting up in shipping containers, said Maj. Godfrey Manera, director of operations for the 11th Combat Air Base Squadron. He oversaw logistics, security, engineering and feeding airmen.
The task force commanded HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters and HC-130J Combat King aircraft with the 563rd Rescue Group during Resolute Force Pacific, a large-scale exercise involving more than 300 aircraft, Manera said Dec. 12 at Andersen.
Austere conditions meant airmen often worked outside their specialties, Cassidy said, as the unit sought to reduce its logistical footprint.
Maj. Godfrey Manera, left, and Senior Master Sgt. Robert Davis, of the 11th Air Task Force, discuss the unit’s role in constructing a storage facility at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, on Dec. 12, 2025. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
The task force later moved to Daegu Air Base in South Korea, where it controlled six F-16 Fighting Falcon jets during Ulchi Freedom Shield, one of two major annual U.S-South Korea exercises.
The unit is designed to be “agnostic” to aircraft type, Cassidy added.
“Whatever needs to be attached to us for the mission should be anticipated,” he said.
Since September, the task force has operated on Guam without assigned aircraft, focusing instead on support functions as it prepares to redeploy. Crews have been packing containers of tents, medical gear and communications equipment for shipment back to bases in the United States.
The task force’s motto, “first to fight,” and its rising phoenix patch are a nod to airmen who fought across the Pacific in World War II under Gen. George Kenney.
“The problem of the vast Pacific and how to get around it is not new,” Cassidy said. “We are just doing it with modern tools and equipment.”
