Overseas air bases can no longer be counted on as safe harbours for American aircraft forward deployed to conflict zones.
That is the conclusion of top service leaders within the US Air Force (USAF), who say modern weapons and geopolitical instability have upended Washington’s 20th Century model of force projection – based heavily on large, well-established air bases located in friendly countries near potential hot spots.
While the USAF is not abandoning the goal of projecting power well beyond the skies of North America, the service is exploring new methods of doing so that are not reliant on vulnerable fixed infrastructure.
“Today’s security environment requires us to be an agile, adaptable force capable of maintaining lethality in the face of a challenging and dynamic battle space,” says USAF chief of staff General David Allvin.
Recent months have seen repeated attacks against US bases and ships in the Middle East using a mix of long-range guided missiles and one-way uncrewed aerial vehicles. A January strike against an American base in Syria by Iran-linked militants killed three US Army personnel.
In the Indo-Pacific, China has invested heavily in developing vast stocks of precision missiles, which boast greater range and speed than the relatively simple weapons that have proven effective in the Middle East.
With that in mind, the USAF recently completed military exercises dubbed Bamboo Eagle, which sought to evaluate American’s ability to operate in a contested environment against so-called “high-end threats” – a reference to modern military adversaries including Russia and China.
The drills, which were held over California, Nevada and the eastern Pacific Ocean, ran from 2-10 August and stressed the ability of an expeditionary air wing to conduct sorties while under threat from simulated missile strikes.
Ground crews were challenged to re-arm and refuel combat aircraft, as well as providing the logistics support necessary to keep forward units supplied with the necessary equipment to sustain operations.
A range of aircraft participated in Bamboo Eagle, including Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters from the USAF and US Marine Corps, Boeing F-15E strike fighters, Boeing KC-46 tankers, and Boeing B-1B heavy bombers. Adversary air fighters, including Lockheed F-16s and F-35As from USAF aggressor squadrons, acted as a modern enemy air force.
Unlike the USAF’s famous Red Flag air combat exercises, Bamboo Eagle sought to test the entire chain of personnel involved in sortie generation with combat conditions. By contrast, Red Flag focuses more narrowly on exposing aircraft operators to enemy tactics.
“As an air force, we are learning that we are all going to be on the front lines,” says Major General Christopher Niemi, commander of the USAF Warfare Center.
“The USAF no longer has the luxury of projecting power from sanctuary bases,” he adds. “Airmen will be required to sustain the same operational tempo as before, but under the threat of large-scale enemy fires at a magnitude this nation has never seen.”
Unclassified wargames conducted by the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies in 2022 found that Washington and its regional allies could lose as many as 900 aircraft in a Taiwan invasion scenario. Many of those losses would occur on the ground at major US facilities in East Asia, such as Kadena air base in Japan.
Bamboo Eagle sought to mitigate this vulnerability, with participating units establishing themselves at various “hub-and-spoke” logistics sites, conducting movement of assets, personnel and equipment while maintaining command and control and materiel support.
The distributed operating concept is known as Agile Combat Employment within the Pentagon, and aims to use a large number of smaller support sites to offset reliance on large, vulnerable air bases.
“This is central to success in a changing threat environment that no longer allows the air force to treat overseas bases as sanctuaries,” the USAF says. “The service must ensure it can operate in disaggregated places and generate combat air power.”
In February, the USAF unveiled a new operational strategy that includes conducting more large-scale exercises like Bamboo Eagle, with the goal of maintaining the service’s tactical edge against modern adversaries.
The document also called for a greater focus on ACE within frontline aviation units.
“Bamboo Eagle is just a starting point,” says Allvin. “Major exercises like this are only going to expand as we enhance our ability to generate all-domain combat-power and re-optimise our US Air Force for today’s volatile threat environment.”
