2025: A Year in Review
By Mr. Brett A Manis II, AMC Interim Command Historian
Like so many years before, 2025 proved eventful in numerous ways for the men and women of Air Mobility Command (AMC). Coming off the 2024 election season and its critical Banner Express missions, AMC entered the past year by preparing for a ramped-up exercise summer, highlighted by Mobility Guardian 2025 as part of a broader set of U.S. Air Force (USAF) and joint force exercises. Gen John Lamontagne, who was named AMC Commander in September 2024, continued to move the organization forward in line with his priorities of “Airmen – Mission – Commitment.”
In February 2025, AMC units participated in the Air Force Warfare Center’s Exercise Bamboo Eagle 25-1 with other Air Force units, sister services, and allied forces. This exercise enabled joint and allied interoperability training for AMC air refueling and airlift assets, with both the strategic C-17 Globemaster III and tactical C-130J Super Hercules participating. KC-46A Pegasus aircraft from the 344th Air Refueling Squadron at McConnell Air Force Base (AFB), KS, conducted the first-ever low-altitude refueling of a C-17 from the 7th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA.
During the summer of 2025, AMC surged to meet national requirements in the U.S. Central Command theater of operations. As the United States prepared to respond and defend U.S. forces in the region during the Israel-Iran conflict, AMC airlift and tanker aircraft provided critical support to USAF bombers, fighters, and sister services traveling to the theater. Most notably, AMC units enabled the successful completion of Operation MIDNIGHT HAMMER by refueling Global Strike Command B-2 Spirit bombers during their thirteen-thousand-mile round-trip flight. When called upon, Mobility Airmen rose to the challenge and demonstrated the necessity of a responsive and agile mobility force.
Just as impressively, Mobility Airmen and forces pivoted to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command theater of operations in July for the 2025 Department-Level Exercise (DLE). Designed to showcase the Air Force’s ability to move at speed and scale, this DLE included AMC’s Mobility Guardian exercise. AMC and Total Force crews moved U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps units into and throughout the area of responsibility, once again demonstrating the mobility fleet’s incredible versatility.
In September 2025, AMC reorganized by returning to a two-numbered air force (NAF) structure. Since 2003, all AMC flying units have been assigned to the Eighteenth Air Force (18 AF) as the command’s sole NAF. In 2012, AMC began using the USAF Expeditionary Center as a second, NAF-like unit, assigning nonflying units there to relieve some of the administrative burden on 18 AF. Addressing further limitations of this structure, AMC activated the Twenty-First Air Force (21 AF) at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ, on September 5 and divided its units geographically to ensure balanced missions between the two NAFs. The 21 AF was last active in 2012 as the 21st Expeditionary Mobility Task Force and returned as an NAF for the first time since 2003. Maj Gen Darren Cole, previously AMC’s A3/10 and A4 Director, assumed command of 21 AF upon its revival in 2025.
Throughout the federal government’s lapse in appropriations that began on October 1, 2025, AMC servicemembers and essential government employees continued to deliver global reach for the joint force.
Following the end of the lapse in appropriations on November 12, 2025, AMC continued to excel. In early December 2025, Gen Lamontagne delivered the one hundredth KC-46A Pegasus from the factory near Seattle, WA, to Travis AFB, CA. The same week, the 43d Air Mobility Operations Group (43 AMOG) at Pope Army Airfield, NC, activated Task Force Gryphon to support the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division during Battalion Mass Tactical Week 26-01. The 43 AMOG worked with the 344th Air Refueling Squadron from McConnell AFB and the 41st Airlift Squadron from Little Rock AFB, AR, to certify Air Force teams for Air Force Force Generation deployment requirements, while providing training and support to Army partners.
As AMC heads into 2026, the men and women of the mobility fleet will continue to demonstrate their dedication and professionalism. Airmen will continue to respond to all of America’s calls, large and small, to prepare and deliver America’s lethal fighting force wherever needed. Just as critically, AMC will continue its legacy of being at the forefront of humanitarian aid and aeromedical evacuation, and move forward in training, readiness, and connecting the mobility fleet to its allies and partners, ensuring not only survivability in combat but also enabling battlespace management and mission success.