The Guam Initial Response Readiness Exercise, an island-wide program that teams Pacific Air Force’s 36th Wing at Andersen AFB, Guam, with Naval Base Guam, kicked off in 2005 to coordinate training on war plan deployments and joint disaster response efforts. Starting next week, this year’s installment (now planned for every quarter) will be an expanded effort featuring Guam Army and Air National Guard along with Guam’s Civil Defense and Homeland Security joint team, as well as the formation of Joint Task Force Homeland Defense-Guam.
U.S. Air Force F-35s and F-22s regularly deploy deep into the Pacific region from Alaska, Utah, and Hawaii. In the future, though, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command would like to see the Air Force permanently station fifth-generation aircraft west of the international date line—closer to China.