- State affiliation · United States
- Vigil category device · not official insignia
Identity provenance
State affiliation: United States.
Vigil category device — drawn from this record’s own domain, echelon and role. Not an official insignia.
In brief
CENTCOM's air component — the command that has flown the American air campaign against Iran since February 2026 from air expeditionary wings on Gulf bases, with its forward headquarters at Al Udeid in Qatar.
- Scope
- Structure, role, lineage and links. 2 subordinate records published.
- Subordination
- Subordination confirmed
- Sources
- 3 on the record
- Record state
- Partial
- Broad area of activity
- The CENTCOM area, from a combined air operations centre at Al Udeid and air expeditionary wings across the Gulf
- Notable history
- Air Forces Central is the Ninth Air Force in its theatre role: the command that runs the combined air operations centre at Al Udeid in Qatar and the air expeditionary wings on Gulf bases through which American air power in the region is organised. It flew the air campaigns over Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria and, since 28 February 2026, the campaign against Iran, whose scale CENTCOM reported at more than ten thousand targets by late March. Its wings are the organisational form of the host relationships this module authors as relationships: the 379th at Al Udeid in Qatar, the 380th at Al Dhafra in the Emirates, and a third at Ali Al Salem in Kuwait, which is named here and not authored separately. The command's own reporting is the primary evidence for most of what it has done, and this module treats it as a participant's account.
- Strengths
- A standing combined air operations centre, basing across every Gulf host, and the enablers — tanking, early warning, intelligence — that no regional air force has at the same scale.
- Limitations
- Its bases are on the territory of states that were themselves attacked from February 2026, which makes the host relationships a constraint as well as an asset. Strike totals are its own. Nothing here describes sortie rates, aircraft by base, force levels or posture, and the existence of a wing implies no commitment to its host.
Subordinate formations
Rows are layout only — position and order carry no hierarchy, importance, sequence or strength. Every record shown is an immediate subordinate of the selected organisation.
Campaigns
Campaigns naming this organisation as a participant. The campaign record owns the relationship and grades it; this list is computed.
- The 2026 interstate war Primary force · Since 28 February 2026 · moderate confidence · as of 2026-09
CENTCOM's air component, from whose Gulf bases the campaign's air element is flown; identification below command level is Vigil's.
Campaign involvement
United States and Israeli strikes on Iran open the war
A large-scale United States and Israeli strike campaign against Iran begins. The Congressional Research Service records more than ten thousand targets struck in Iran by 25 March, and reports the operation's cost as exceeding $11.3bn in its first six days — a figure it notes excludes many associated costs. Iranian retaliation against Israel, United States facilities and Gulf states begins the same day.
Quick actions
System access
Where this record connects into the rest of Vigil. Each row is here because this organisation actually reaches it.
Assessed as of — 2026-09 Last reviewed — 2026-09-09
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