On January 14, 2018 ten USAF A-10Cs arrived at Lajes en route to a deployment in Afghanistan. The aircraft were all from the 303rd Fighter Squadron, an Air Force Reserve unit based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Tanker support was provided by two KC-10As.

The aircraft all departed to Sigonella on January 16th, with their final destination Kandahar, where they will replace Moody AFB A-10s on deployment.
The A-10s involved were:-
80-0201/KC 'TABOR51'
79-0164/KC 'TABOR52'
82-0653/KC 'TABOR53'
79-0111/KC 'TABOR54'
79-0119/KC 'TABOR55'
79-0114/KC 'TABOR56'
79-0109/KC 'TABOR61'
79-0110/KC 'TABOR62'
79-0093/KC 'TABOR63'
79-0155/KC 'TABOR64'

85-0030 'GOLD01'
83-0082 'GOLD11'