Photo By Tech. Sgt. Alexander Cook | A U.S. Air Force crew chief watches as a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft takes off from...... read more read more
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MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — The 91st Air Refueling Squadron from the 6th Air Refueling Wing recently led air-to-air refueling operations on KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft enabling combat-power generation during Exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-3 at McClellan Airport in Sacramento, California, August 5 - 10, 2024.
During BE 24-3, Mobility Air Force assets supported warfighters implementing all-domain combat-power generation from disaggregated basing locations throughout the western part of the U.S., along with distributed command and control, agile logistics and tactical air-to-air refueling.
The 91st ARS’s participation in BE 24-3 tested their capabilities to deploy rapidly and establish operations upon reaching theatre to maneuver the Joint Force at time, scale, and mass, building upon fundamentals practiced during last year’s Mobility Guardian 23, ensuring strategic advantage by advancing war fighting capabilities.
“We picked up operations from MacDill with a tropical storm inbound that created a real-world inject that compressed a lot of our timelines,” said Lt. Col. Raymond Roe, 91st ARS commander. “Despite the challenge, we were able to pivot and get established.”
During the exercise, the 91st ARS quickly integrated flying operations with the 384th ARS, Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, and 912th ARS, March Air Force Base, California, generating 67 total air-to-air refueling sorties over the eastern Pacific Ocean.
“We’ve accomplished a volume of flights at a pace that’s very abnormal to our day-to-day operations,” said Roe. “We have 85 maintainers here producing a surge volume that is very antithetical to what we produce at home station. Given our minimal footprint, the prioritization of how they generate, or repair aircraft forces us to have a strategic outlook that we may not otherwise have to experience.”
Bamboo Eagle 24-3 was one example of how the Air Force implements large scale exercises and
mission-focused training encompassing multiple operational plans to demonstrate and rehearse
for complex, large-scale military operations.
“We are witnessing in real time an evolutionary paradigm shift in how we look at operations, joint integrations and communications,” said Roe. “We’re coming out of the Global War on Terror which is a very different landscape that has been absent for one or two generations. The best thing we can do is exercise those skills and identify pitfalls.”
As mobility Airmen continue to hone their skills, Bamboo Eagle will prepare the MAF to maneuver the joint force anytime and anywhere in the world.
“Watching the teamwork develop here gives me a lot of confidence that I could take this group of people and execute this mission anywhere in the world,” said Roe. "What was unique for us is having Lt. Col. Clark Hall and Capt. Jibraun Asaad, who were critical to the strategic planning of this exercise which started months ago.”
Upon conclusion of the exercise, the 91st ARS became certified and mission-ready to meet the demands for world-wide deployment and support combatant commanders when called upon.
Bamboo Eagle is just one example of the many ways in which the Air Force is reoptimizing for great power competition. Through exercises like this, the Air Force is building a stronger and more capable force, ready to project power and generate aircraft in concert with the Joint Force.
| Date Taken: | 08.12.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.12.2024 19:55 |
| Story ID: | 478436 |
| Location: | SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 121 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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