SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- The U.S. Air Force 79th Fighter Squadron (FS) and Fighter Generation Squadron (FGS) conducted Tiger Claw 24-2, an Agile Combat Employment (ACE) generation exercise Nov. 6-9, 2023.
The exercise was designed and executed by the 79th FS and FGS to simulate aircraft generation from separate forward operating locations to help the Air Force develop new methods of efficiently assembling equipment packages for deployment and better execute ACE in a modern, contested threat environment.
“Tiger Claw is a readiness exercise simulating what is most likely to occur in a deployed environment,” said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Zachary Szalay, 79th Fighter Generation Squadron flightline expediter. “This exercise is aimed at executing the 22nd Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Brown’s, goals for operational readiness and driving forward the Air Force’s commitment to the ‘Accelerate, Change or Lose’ initiative”
The exercise challenged two teams of Airmen to prepare and generate 12 combat capable aircraft from separate locations with limited time and resources, encouraging the teams to problem-solve and achieve mission success under pressure.
“The Tigers collectively said ‘we have some things we need to work on, we want to get after it and we’re going to make it happen,’” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Christina Nunley, 79th FGS director of operations. “This exercise is unique to the Tigers. We had to determine what we needed to cut to make large packages of equipment work in two separate light and lean locations and execute ACE.”
Tiger Claw was designed to strengthen the 20th Fighter Wing’s ability to provide lighter and leaner combat airpower in defense of the United States and its allies as the Air Force shifts toward developing smaller, more maneuverable teams capable of achieving air supremacy in contested locations.