Twentieth Air Force
| Twentieth Air Force | |
|---|---|
An LGM-30 Minuteman III missile soars in the air after a test launch
|
|
| Active | 4 April 1944 – present |
| Country |
 United States
|
| Branch |
 United States Air Force
|
| Part of |
 Air Force Global Strike Command
|
| Garrison/HQ | Francis E. Warren Air Force Base |
| Engagements |
|
| Decorations |
|
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Maj Gen Anthony Cotton |
| Notable commanders |
Curtis LeMay |
| Insignia | |
| Emblem of the Twentieth Air Force |  |
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The Twentieth Air Force (20 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.
20 AF's primary mission is Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) operations. The Twentieth Air Force commander is also the Commander, Task Force 214 (TF 214), which provides alert ICBMs to the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM).
Established on 4 April 1944 at Washington D.C, 20 AF was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force deployed to the Pacific Theater of World War II. Operating initially from bases in India and staging though bases in China, 20 AF conducted strategic bombardment of the Japanese Home Islands. It relocated to the Mariana Islands in late 1944, and continued the strategic bombardment campaign against Japan until the Japanese capitulation in August 1945. The 20 AF 509th Composite Group conducted the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945.
Inactivated on 1 March 1955, the command was reactivated 1 September 1991, as a component of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and became operationally responsible for all land-based Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.
Twentieth Air Force headquarters is unique in that it has dual responsibilities to Air Force Global Strike Command and United States Strategic Command. As the missile Numbered Air Force for AFGSC, 20th Air Force is responsible for maintaining and operating the Air Force's ICBM force. Designated as STRATCOM's Task Force 214, 20th Air Force provides on-alert, combat ready ICBMs to the president. Combined with the other two legs of the Triad, bombers and submarines, STRATCOM forces protect the United States with an umbrella of deterrence.
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