(The Center Square) – Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina is one of six locations chosen for the experimental Air Task Forces, the Department of the Air Force says.
The pilot program will “test new methods to generate more efficient, integrated deployable Units of Actions,” a release says. In addition to the base in Goldsboro, also chosen were Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona; Scott Air Force Base in Illinois; Joint Base San Antonio in Texas; Dyess Air Force Base in Texas; and Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington.
The Air Force says this is the next evolution of maximizing combat effectiveness, minimizing risk to the base mission and adoption of a modular organization of teams. In what is known as the AFFORGEN cycle, airmen will work and train together throughout.
AFFORGEN is an acronym for Air Force Generation, a 24-month cycle with six months phases. It includes preparation, certification, availability to commit, and the reset.
Gen. David Allvin, chief of staff for the Air Force, said it’s a “significant change” from deployments of the past 20 years. It comes in response to evolving threats. Airmen will enter the cycle in the reset phase this summer and be prepared to deploy in fiscal year 2026.
Each base will gain about 50 airmen.
Concerns remain about a loss of F-15E Strike Eagles at Seymour Johnson. U.S. Ted Budd, R-N.C., praised the Air Task Force choice in a post to social media and wrote, “It’s more vital than ever that Congress block the Air Force from divesting F-15E Strike Eagles needed to fill these new units.”
Budd and U.S. Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., have each separately led efforts in their respective chambers to prevent the loss of airmen and planes at Seymour Johnson.
