US Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Tryphena Mayhugh
The US Air Force just conducted a massive exercise in the Indo-Pacific, testing its ability to fight and deliver substantial airpower in contested environments for a potential future conflict.
It was the largest exercise in the region since the Cold War, Air Force leadership said.
This big monthlong exercise brought together several major training events and involved US forces across the services, along with allies and partners. The drills focused on core objectives such as flying and sustaining a high number of missions, moving cargo under threat, using space-based technologies across air, land, sea, and cyber operations, and practicing large-scale Agile Combat Employment tactics, which are about making US forces more flexible and harder to target.
ACE is the Air Force’s approach to spreading out or dispersing aircraft to areas outside fixed bases — including to remote or rugged locations. This matters most in the Indo-Pacific, where any conflict could force US forces to use smaller, scattered airfields across the region. The goal is to avoid relying too heavily on big bases that could be easy targets for China’s missiles.
ACE pairs bases, or hubs, like Anderson Air Force Base in Guam, with remote airfields, called spokes. Specially trained airmen, prepositioned equipment, and airlift capability facilitate the operations between them, expanding where the Air Force can launch combat sorties and project power.
US Air Force photo by Senior Airman Zachary Foster
The Air Force said the exercise provided feedback to improve future operations.
“To have the exercise is one thing, but to fail forward, move fast and learn from our mistakes is another,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said without going into detail on failures. “We validated our ability to sustain operations, deploy and redeploy at scale, and now must follow through on lessons learned. This evolution, implementation and iteration prepare us for the future fight.”
He characterized the latest exercise as a necessary stress to the system.
Last fall, Allvin shared details on planning for this training, which was a return to the type of large-scale exercises the US conducted during the Cold War. At the time, he said these types of events were necessary as the US shifts its focus to readiness for great power conflict against an adversary like China.
“We need to get back to those large-scale exercises, and to their credit, many of the wing level and numbered Air Force level and even some of the MAJCOM (major command) level, they have started to organically expand their exercises,” he said at the time.
The reason, he said, is partially because the Air Force needs to be prepared to fight against an adversary like China in a highly contested environment where no side enjoys consistent air superiority.
A major part of the recent training involved the Space Force and simulating how enemy forces would use space-based capabilities and technologies, like satellites and sensors, in a potential high-end conflict. Other components, like maintaining communications and command and control elements, were tested as well.
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