The 23rd Wing hosted the first Site Activation Task Force from August 28-31, 2023, after the Air force announced Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, as the preferred alternative to receive the next active-duty F-35A Lightning II mission.

Hurricane Idalia cut the visit short, but the SATAF of more than 85 experts from a variety of agencies and career fields were able to start the process of addressing the costs and impact of growth, and assess and evaluate facilities to determine the way ahead for Team Moody. 

“Well, that was an adventurous SATAF,” said Joseph Less, Air Combat Command Basing. “I greatly appreciate everyone’s efforts this week, and though it was a very shortened version of what we normally do, we did get some good work accomplished and got our eyes on Moody operations so we can start to develop plans to convert the wing to 5th Generation Flying Tigers.” 

Team Moody is planning and preparing for the future beddown with the first aircraft scheduled to arrive in 2029; however, there will be several studies to include an environmental impact analysis before the Air Force makes the final beddown decision. 

According to the initial announcement, the two squadrons of F-35As are projected to begin arriving in fiscal year 2029, and the number of service members is expected to remain the same. The decision to host the F-35 mission at Moody came after assessing the area’s ability to facilitate the mission and infrastructure capacity, while accounting for community support, environmental factors and cost.