SOUTHWEST ASIA -- U.S. Airmen, Marines, and Soldiers across the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility conducted Operation Agile Spartan II throughout March.
As a large-scale, joint and multinational operation, OAS II tested and evaluated Agile Combat Employment core competencies.
“If we have to land in the middle of nowhere, we want to have the support and equipment we need even if there is minimal footprint present in that location,” said Tech. Sgt. Esmeralda Ayala, 378th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron material management member. “Even though we have different specialties and we’re from different career fields, ACE gives us the knowledge to know the basics of launching the jet and getting the mission done.”
Over the course of three weeks, service members conducted rapid deployments, dispersals, and maneuvers to austere environments to showcase combat capabilities while working alongside partner nations.
ACE is a proactive and reactive operational scheme of maneuver executed within threat timelines to increase survivability while generating combat power, according to Air Force Doctrine Note 1-21, signed into effect Dec. 1, 2021, by U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General Charles Q. Brown Jr.
The employment of ACE concepts allows AFCENT the flexibility to operate from any location, which increases strategic deterrence capability and resilience.
“AFCENT is just one of the operational theaters developing ACE guidance, however, it is the only one executing ACE while simultaneously in a combat environment, in competition and using distributed command and control nodes,” said Col. Athanasia Shinas, Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) ACE working group lead. “We are developing locations that are resilient and defendable, and increasing the number of locations in order to complicate the enemy’s targeting process and create flexibility for ourselves and our allies.”
AFCENT’s investment in building enduring advantages through ACE will empower integrated deterrence within the CENTCOM area of responsibility.
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