Air National Guard to stand up a new special tactics squadron

The Pentagon has directed the Air Force to stand up a new Air National Guard Special Tactics Squadron. It would be one of only a few Air National Guard units made up of special operations personnel.

The Pentagon announced the decision last week and referenced a Sept. 23 memo signed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, which directed the Air Force to establish a new Florida-based unit. 

Pentagon officials said that the move “strategically positions a premier Special Tactics capability at the center of the nation’s special operations command hub, deepening the integration between the National Guard and active duty elite units to defend the United States and defeat global adversaries.”

U.S. Special Operations Command is headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida. Air Force Special Operations Command is based hundreds of miles away at Hurlburt Field, Florida, which is hundreds of miles northwest of MacDill in the Florida Panhandle.

Hegseth’s memo indicates that the unit’s initial activation will be funded from the fiscal year 2027 budget and that the 2028 budget could cover additional construction, equipment and manpower authorizations. 

Pentagon officials said they had nothing more to add beyond the announcement and memo.

Air Force Special Operations Officials did not provide immediate details on the mission of the new unit or when it would be stood up and directed additional questions to the Pentagon. 

“We are in initial stages of planning and look forward to growing our elite Special Tactics community to enhance our joint force’s lethality and readiness,” said Lt. Col. Casey Osborne, an Air Force Special Operations Command spokesperson.

Special Tactics units are made up of all the Air Force special operator career fields, including combat controllers, pararescuemen, special reconnaissance and Tactical Air Control Party  (TACP) specialists. These airmen are capable of running air support for humanitarian aid missions, conducting airfield seizures in combat, or directing life-saving personnel evacuations in remote areas. 

The majority of Air Force special tactics squadrons are active duty units throughout the U.S. as well as two abroad in England and Japan. The new unit appears to be the Air National Guard’s third special tactics squadron — the others are the 125th, based out of Portland, Oregon, and the 123rd, based out of Louisville, Kentucky.

The 125th Special Tactics Squadron, based out of Portland, Oregon, is made up of over 75 Special Tactics combat controllers and personnel from special operations weather teams and combat support teams. Their airmen have responded to major environmental disasters like Hurricanes Ike, Harvey, and Irma, and in 2008, the squadron used special-operation rescue boats and equipment to save hundreds of stranded people after a flood in Vernonia, Oregon. They’ve also sent personnel to support Operations Enduring Freedom missions in Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and the Philippines, and Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn. 

The Air National Guard’s 123rd Special Tactics Squadron is based out of Louisville, Kentucky. According to the 123rd squadron’s website, it is the only Air National Guard special operations unit with both combat controllers and pararescue personnel. According to the unit, the squadron supported combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a three-year period, its airmen deployed overseas for over 4,600 days, conducted more than 950 ground-combat missions and saved over 50 personnel.

In 2010, airmen with the 123rd were “among the first U.S. forces” to respond to the Haiti earthquake, and directed humanitarian aid drops and resupply. As part of a special operations exercise in 2023, airmen from the 123rd squadron jumped from an MC-130J onto a civilian highway in Wyoming to practice establishing and securing the highway landing zone for the inbound aircraft.

The Kentucky unit has also trained on specialized fueling operations and rapid-reaction aircraft launches with the UK and Canada, and aeromedical evacuations with Ecuador. Last year, the unit ran through search and rescue, reconnaissance and targeting operations in a simulated contested environment across islands in the Caribbean.

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