Strong, diverse presence offers flexible airpower

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Teel
  • 36th Wing Public Affairs
ANDERSEN AFB, Guam --  At any given time Andersen AFB is home to several different aircraft and squadrons ready to respond to a variety of contingency crises and humanitarian missions. Pacific theater commanders have often praised Guam's strategic position in the Western Pacific, which affords the U.S. freedom of action to conduct missions in its interest.
Rotations of bombers, fighters, cargo aircraft, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft afford the commander of the Pacific Command a unique ability to project global combat power and global support power anywhere at any time. Pacific Air Force's Continuous Bomber Presence, for example, began its rotations in 2004, quickly changing the face and capabilities of the base.
"Presently we have the B-52 bombers (20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, Barksdale AFB, La.) and the F-15E Strike Eagle (389th Fighter Squadron, Mountain Home AFB, Idaho) presence from the continental U.S. that is here and can be called into action if required," said Col. Damian McCarthy, 36th Operations Group commander. "The numbers here can be increased in the event of contingency crises, but baseline presence will provide us an immediate capability if it is needed."
While at Andersen the fighters and bombers continue to fly local training missions to hone their skills, they train with sister services to maintain service cohesion, and engage with allies. When needed they will go forward wherever, whenever they are tasked to handle mission requirements, according to Air Force leaders.
"Andersen postures our buildup to be able to respond to anything that might happen," said Brig. Gen. Doug Owens, 36th Wing commander. "Freedom of action leads to operational flexibility, and that is absolutely essential for us to be able to respond quickly and adequately to any type of crises or anything that might arise in the Western Pacific."

"In the future Andersen will continue to rotate bombers and fighters here to maintain that great capability," said General Owens. "In addition we've begun seeing F-22s rotating through here as well. We'll combine that with our intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capability with the addition of the Global Hawk in 2009."