Foreign Emergency Support Team

The FEST was particularly active when operatives of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network bombed U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

USS Cole Bombing

A FEST was deployed to Aden, Yemen following a terrorist attack against the USS Cole, which killed 17 American sailors in October 2000. The FEST advised the US ambassador and helped her direct America's response to the attack. The team relied heavily on FEST's secure mobile communications capability, since the Port of Aden is more than 200 miles from the American Embassy in Sanaa.

The remains of the Port of Beirut after the 2020 explosion

In August 2020, the FEST C-32B was identified leaving a fuel stop at Stuttgart Airport in Germany en route to Beirut, Lebanon, in the hours after what was later discovered to be an ammonium nitrate fire caused one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions in human history in the city's port.[7]

The team has been spotted flying into Iraq,[8] throughout central Europe, and several times in Amman, Jordan.[9] Team constituent agencies organize a FEST to conduct training with partner nations often.[2]

Smaller, "tailored" FESTs have responded to abductions of Americans in Ecuador and the Philippines.

"Contingency" FESTs were deployed to ensure safety at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece (Summer 2004) and Turin, Italy (Winter 2006), and in Lagos, Nigeria during a hostage-taking crisis.

Boeing C-32B of the 486th Flight Test Squadron in Canberra, Australia in 2008.

The most unique tool the FEST brings to bear are two Boeing C-32B aircraft, serial numbers 02-4452 and 02-5001 operated by the United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC).[10] The C-32B has been associated with the 150th Special Operations Squadron out of McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey (previously designated as 227th Special Operations Flight) and the 486th Flight Test Squadron out of Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.[10]

The aircraft serve as on-call global transport, and are one-off variants of the Boeing 757, similar to the C-32A which serves as executive aircraft for senior leaders including the Vice President and Secretary of State. The two aircraft differ significantly from their VIP-carrying counterparts however, and they are outfitted with an advanced communications suite and are designed for ultra long-range capability. All cargo must be stored in the rear of the aircraft as enlarged fuel tanks replace the entire below-deck cargo hold, extending the aircraft's unrefueled maximum range to 6000 nautical miles.[11] They also have an aerial refueling capability via an unmarked conformal Universal Aerial Refueling Receptacle Slipway Installation (USRRSI) located atop the fuselage, 15 feet aft of the nose, along the aircraft's centerline, allowing the planes to remain airborne nearly indefinitely.[12][13][14]

The planes are generally painted white and lack any external markings other than serial numbers, although they have been spotted with "United States Air Force" emblazoned on the cheatline and the Air Force roundel on the tail section of the fuselage at times,[15] or solely a small American flag on the same area of the rear fuselage at others.[14] The aircraft have been known to change serial number frequently to confuse the number of airframes in service and their whereabouts, and they are operated by the secretive and deceptively named Air Force 486th Flight Test Squadron at Eglin AFB, a unit heavily associated with U.S. special operations and the intelligence community.[11] The development of the two aircraft emerged out of the 2001 Air Force budget, where details are largely classified other than to identify their association with FEST and reveal that the procurement cost was estimated at $144.963 million.[16]