APRIL 6, 2026 – From the historic runways of a World War II island to the austere outback of Australia, a specialized unit of the Colorado Air National Guard has been quietly setting the stage for U.S. defensive posture in the Indo-Pacific region.
Members of the 240th Civil Engineer Flight, or CEF, a unit dually assigned to the 140th Wing and U.S. Pacific Air Forces, completed a series of deployments in 2025 where they planned and designed critical infrastructure projects across the Indo-Pacific region.
Their mission supports the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a congressional mandate to enhance U.S. relationships with allies and partners, while boosting deterrence capabilities and giving the U.S. Air Force more operational options in the vast and challenging region.
The 240th CEF’s mission includes designing military facilities, programming, wartime engineer resource management and augmenting the numbered Air Forces and major command headquarters.
“Engineers lead the way,” said U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Jennifer Ventura, a civil engineer assigned to the 240th Civil Engineer Flight. “Even before a conflict, before any fighters or any other positions in the Air Force come in, engineers are there setting up the theater for them to be able to do their job. That’s essentially what we were doing.”
The 240th CEF’s deployments marked a strategic shift. Instead of sending one or two individuals to augment larger teams, the unit deployed as cohesive Regional Planning Teams, or RPT, leveraging pre-existing relationships and a deep well of shared knowledge.
“We were able to bring the right mix of folks to have a high-performing team out of the gate,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Anthony Lanphier, an engineer assigned to the 240th Civil Engineer Flight who was part of the RPT for Micronesia.
That RPT’s area of responsibility included rehabilitating one of the most significant airfields in U.S. military history: North Field on Tinian.
“At its height at the end of World War II, it was the biggest and busiest airfield on the planet,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Drew Lang, the design lead in Guam, from the 240th CEF.
The Tinian project aims to revitalize historic or austere airfields at strategic locations. While there, the 240th CEF’s engineers designed concrete pads for Mobile Aircraft Arresting Systems to support fighter jet operations and planned warehouses for future pre-positioned war reserve material.
This is where the unit’s status as a force of traditional drill status Guardsmen became a decisive advantage. The Citizen-Airmen brought along decades of high-end civilian engineering experience to their military roles.
Lanphier, a mechanical engineer in his civilian job, identified a flawed HVAC design for a climate-controlled warehouse. He redesigned the system to be more efficient and, critically, sourced local materials, saving significant time on the project.
In another instance, Lang, an electrical engineer, teamed up with a National Guard lineman from a partner construction unit. Together, they completed a complex electrical distribution design and project 12-18 months ahead of schedule.
“We moved projects forward years because of that prior civilian experience,” Lanphier said. “We’re leveraging knowledge, skills and abilities that were obtained through our civilian careers and using that to further the mission.”
While the Micronesia team focused on construction, other teams navigated complex human and political terrain in the Philippines. U.S. Air Force Maj. Luke Johannson, an engineer assigned to the 240th CEF, was tasked with standing up a new RPT and first had to convince both U.S. and Philippine military officials of its value.
He concluded his pitch with a Filipino proverb, “The strength of the broom comes from the string that binds it,” a saying taught in all Philippine schools. The gesture of cultural understanding resonated, laying the groundwork for a strong partnership.
In Australia, the strategic focus shifted to the vast and sparsely populated Northern Territory, a region chosen for its proximity to potential adversaries in the South China Sea. The RPT, led by 240th CEF U.S. Air Force Maj. Joshua Chambers-Mills, was tasked with laying the groundwork for increased U.S. airpower in our ally’s homeland.
“A lot of our job was trying to figure out the Air Force’s needs for the short and medium term, and then how we can work with the Australian government and the Australian engineers to set up locations on Australian defense bases that would meet our needs,” Chambers-Mills said.
This required a deliberate approach to navigate both the U.S. and Australian government processes. That approach resulted in a uniquely collaborative project in which personnel bunkers designed by the U.S. Army, funded by the Royal Australian Air Force, and built by the U.S. Navy Construction “Seabees” Battalion were led by a 240th CEF officer as project manager.
From building partnerships to accelerating construction timelines, the 240th CEF’s recent missions highlight the necessary role of the Air National Guard in preparing for a future fight. By turning strategic concepts into shovel-ready projects, they ensure that U.S. forces deployed to the Indo-Pacific will have the infrastructure to meet any challenge.
By 140th Wing
Colorado National Guard