Twentieth Air Force

Twentieth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic)
Shield of the Twentieth Air Force
Active	1 December 2009 – present (as Twentieth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic)) 1 September 1991 – 1 December 2009 4 April 1944 – 1 March 1955 (as Twentieth Air Force) (80 years, 7 months)[1]
Country	United States of America
Branch	United States Air Force (18 September 1947 – present) United States Army ( Army Air Forces, 4 April 1944 – 18 September 1947)
Type	Numbered Air Force
Role	Provide combat-ready nuclear ICBM forces for U.S. Strategic Command[2]
Part of	Air Force Global Strike Command U.S. Strategic Command
Headquarters	Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, U.S.
Engagements	World War II – American Theater World War II – Asiatic-Pacific Theater Korean War[1]
Decorations	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Commanders
Current commander	Maj Gen Stacy Jo Huser
Notable commanders	Curtis LeMay

The Twentieth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) (20th 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 through 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 attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, and remains as the only air force organization to have used a nuclear weapon in combat.

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.