250211-F-BN045-5634

F-35A Lightning II fighter aircraft takes off from Naval Air Station North Island, Calif., for a mission Feb. 11, 2025. The Airmen, from the 388th Fighter Wing's 421st Fighter Squadron at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, are participating in Bamboo Eagle 25-1, a U.S. Air Force Warfare Center exercise designed to enhance cooperation, agility and combat readiness. (U.S. Air Force photo by Micah Garbarino)

Bamboo Eagle 25-1 tests forces in a combat representative environment

A U.S. Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint assigned to the 55th Wing, Offutt Air Force Base (AFB), Nebraska, takes off for a Bamboo Eagle 25-1 mission at Nellis AFB, Nevada, Feb. 12, 2025. Bamboo Eagle provides advanced training to increase readiness in combat operations across all domains, ensuring U.S. forces are prepared for complex challenges. (U.S. Air Force photo by William R. Lewis)

Bamboo Eagle 25-1 tests forces in a combat representative environment

Four F/A-18F Super Hornets, assigned to the Royal Australian Air Force, fly alongside a KC-46 Pegasus, assigned to the 305th Air Mobility Wing, while preparing to receive fuel over the Pacific Ocean during exercise Bamboo Eagle 25-1, Feb. 12, 2025. Bamboo Eagle tests the ability to deploy rapidly, maneuver the Joint Force and allies at speed, scale and mass, and deliver cross-functional and lethal combat capabilities. (U.S. Air Force photo by 2nd Lt. Alexis Kula)

ACC exercises push readiness boundaries, enhance lethality

Published Feb. 21, 2025
By Lt Michael Caggiano
Air Combat Command

JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va --

The U.S. Air Force Warfare Center completed Air Combat Command’s latest round of high-end readiness exercises – Red Flag, Agile Flag, and Bamboo Eagle – throughout the Western U.S. and Eastern Pacific from January to February 2025.

In recent years, the command has focused on planning and executing exercises that are increasingly challenging, and representative of the toughest threats Airmen might face.

“The requirements to succeed in modern warfare are constantly evolving, which is why we must not only train to the threats of today, but also to the threats of tomorrow,” said Gen. Ken Wilsbach, commander of Air Combat Command. “ACC will be at the forefront of that training, providing complex, dynamic, and combat-representative opportunities to sharpen our force’s warfighting capabilities.”

At the heart of this transformation is a series of interconnected exercises – Red Flag, Agile Flag, and Bamboo Eagle – each building upon the last with increasing complexity to create the most realistic and challenging training environment possible.

This exercise series started with Red Flag-Nellis, challenging aircrews with complex aerial scenarios. Red Flag-Nellis focuses on tactics and pushes participants to rapidly integrate air, space, and cyber capabilities as they confront simulated, advanced threats in contested and degraded environments, honing their decision-making and teamwork under pressure.

But modern warfare demands more than just air superiority. It requires a seamless fusion of air and ground operations. This is where Bamboo Eagle takes center stage. Building upon the aerial combat skills honed during Red Flag-Nellis, Bamboo Eagle plunges participants into a full-spectrum conflict. Combining complex aerial environments with contested ground operations and logistics, Airmen must maintain operations while also establishing and defending air bases in austere locations, ensuring the uninterrupted flow of logistics in a high-threat environment. BE stresses adaptability, resilience, and the critical importance of joint operations.

“We have had the luxury of operating from safe-haven bases for many decades, and modern threats have fundamentally changed that reality,” said Maj. Gen. Christopher Niemi, USAFWC commander. “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.”

Exercise Agile Flag takes place within the BE scenario as the certification-to-deploy event for an ACC unit in its Air Force Force Generation cycle. Agile Flag is the ultimate test of expeditionary warfare, challenging wings to sustain an air base in austere conditions while providing critical command-and-control capabilities to the units participating in BE.

The certifying unit faces not only the challenges of operating in a hostile environment, but also the complexities of C2 with units from other installations, mirroring the unpredictable nature of real-world deployments. Agile Flag is where the Air Force evaluates its ability to project power globally and its capacity to operate seamlessly with joint and allied partners.

Creating complex exercises requires creativity during planning and execution. With the exercises occurring at more than 15 locations throughout the Western U.S. and Eastern Pacific, the ability to command and manipulate the exercise scenario is a challenge in and of itself.

To better simulate a combat-representative environment, the USAFWC partnered with Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, to utilize the Silver Flag site for a simulated runway missile strike and the subsequent rapid runway repair. While repairs were underway by the 13th Air Task Force Combat Airbase Squadron, flying operations on the West Coast paused to replicate realistic timelines required for Agile Combat Employment maneuvers.

Exercises like Red Flag, Agile Flag, and Bamboo Eagle represent the Air Force's commitment to integrate with the joint and combined force for realistic, challenging training to ultimately enhance readiness and lethality. These exercises are forging a new generation of Airmen who are ready to effectively confront challenges both now and in the future.