With the technologies of warfare constantly changing, the United States Air Force is working with Allies and Partners and the joint force to ensure rapid responses to threats.
Through an approach the Air Force calls “agile combat employment” (ACE), forces train quickly, adjust, relocate and sustain operations from multiple locations. ACE is a departure from the traditional approach that relies on large overseas bases as hubs for projecting power; the goal is to complicate adversary planning by having multiple, smaller locations that can be quickly set up, used and vacated.
“If our adversaries find the locations where we’re operating from, they will strike them,” Lt. Col. Keith Conway of the Lemay Center for Doctrine Development and Education said in a U.S. Air Force video. “The goal is to set up, conduct operations quickly, and then pack up and move before that location can be targeted. It’s getting away from using main operating bases. We have to figure out how to operate at new locations where we don’t have as much infrastructure already in place. It may be a civil airport, or it may be a partner-nation base, or it may be an air strip that’s made on the highway.”
The U.S. Air Force conducts multiple ACE exercises annually with Allies and Partners. Bamboo Eagle 25-1, which kicked off in February 2025, brought together more than 10,000 service members from the Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force (RAF) and the U.S. Air Force. The exercise is based out of Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and units are spread across multiple military bases, primarily in California.
“We have had the luxury of operating from safe haven bases for many decades, and modern threats have fundamentally changed that reality,” Maj. Gen. Christopher Niemi, U.S. Air Force Warfare Center commander, said in a news release. “Bamboo Eagle is a big part of helping us figure out how to manage those threats, and training together with our Allies improves our ability to face those threats as a unified team.”
“These exercises provide a realistic training environment where we can integrate different capabilities and develop our ability to work with key Allies and Partners,” said Group Capt. Stewart Seeney of the Royal Australian Air Force. “For many of our aviators, deploying on these exercises is a career highlight and is not an experience that can be easily replicated elsewhere.”
The RAF and the U.S. Air Force 48th Fighter Wing co-hosted Point Blank 25-1 in January 2025 at RAF Lakenheath. The 10-day series focused on Dutch, Norwegian, U.K. and U.S. integration, fighter maneuvers and hot-pit refueling (refueling an aircraft immediately after landing while keeping the engines running to minimize time on the ground), according to a U.S. Air Force news release.
“For the Dutch fighter squadrons, the training and integration we get with the United States and other partners is really important when it comes to building a strong force,” said a Royal Netherlands Air Force F-35 pilot assigned to the 313 Squadron out of Volkel Air Base. “It doesn’t matter which country is flying the aircraft, so long as we can work together.”
ACE training is also conducted in smaller, function-specific exercises, including February Exercise 2025 (FEBEX 25), conducted over three days at Camp Blanding Joint Training Center in Florida. FEBEX 25 focused on engineering, communications, weather forecasting and bare-base operations under contested conditions.
“Our ability to operate in austere environments, establish communication networks, and build infrastructure on short notice is critical to maintaining our competitive edge,” U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. William Lamb, senior enlisted leader for the 125th Regional Support Group, said in a news release. “FEBEX 25 ensures we are prepared for the realities of modern warfare.”