ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) —
Last month, the Department of the Air Force concluded its Department-Level Exercise series, a month-long series of exercises conducted across the Western Pacific, including Resolute Force Pacific, Resolute Space, Mobility Guardian 2025, Emerald Warrior and Bamboo Eagle 25-3.
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The purpose? DAF has been investing in its readiness and training with more sophisticated operational exercises, changes to enhance the rapid deployment of forces, and the regular exercise of mission command. The vision for the DLE series was to demonstrate the DAF’s preparedness for complex, large scale military operations. The DLE is a series of nested, phased exercises that were conducted in July and August 2025, which involved multiple commands and areas of operation and exercised Airmen and Guardians’ abilities to conduct sustained, complex military operations involving large numbers of forces in scenarios where air and space superiority, power projection, and global mobility are contested.
On the third day of the 2025 Air, Space and Cyber Conference, Gen. Kevin Schneider, Pacific Air Forces commander; Gen. Adrian L. Spain, commander of Air Combat Command; Gen. John D. Lamontagne, commander of Air Mobility Command; and Lt. Gen. David N. Miller Jr., commander of Space Operations Command, came together to share what they have learned from “Exercising at Scale,” with retired Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost, former commander of U.S. Transportation Command, serving as the moderator.
This panel brought together four of the most forward leaning commanders, leaders who are shaping how we train, integrate, and fight across domains.
The group of leaders kicked off the panel discussing why the DLE was developed. Schneider talked about how the U.S. Air Force is “highly successful” at doing all-day, all-year-round operations, both in combat and other activities. He then talked about tactical-level combat exercises that hone tactical skill sets, and finally how command post exercises at the operational level are usually conducted without fielded forces.
“The ability to pull all three of those things together, higher headquarters exercises all the way down to the lowest Airmen in the field, to have a command and control and communications all the way through those echelons of command to focus on operational-level campaigning over a longer duration,” was the value of conducting the DLE said Schneider, while also highlighting the significance of stress-testing logistics and sustainment through the protracted nature of the month-long exercise series. “It was a big lift … but it was highly successful, and I believe well worth the investment from the United States Air Force and the Department of the Air Force to continue to pursue things like this.”
Lamontagne talked about the opportunity to operate at speed, scale, and range of possible contingencies.
Gen. Johnny Lamontagne, Air Mobility Command commander, right, shakes hands with Lt. Gen. Masahito Yajima, Japan Air Self-Defense Force Air Defense Command commander, during a tour of the JASDF Bilateral Air Operations Coordination Center at Yokota Air Base, Japan, July 17, 2025. Over the course of eight days, Lamontagne visited Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and Yokota AB, Japan, where he met with Airmen, international partners and key leaders across more than 10 organizations. AMC enabled the rapid projection of combat power into the Indo-Pacific theater in support of the Department-Level Exercise series, demonstrating the “One Air Force” concept and reinforcing the U.S. Air Force and allies and partners collective commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Air Force courtesy photo)
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“Four hundred aircraft, 15,000 Airmen, 50 different locations; it takes a lot of work to make that happen,” Lamontagne said. “That range – it’s one thing to do that within the continental United States and another thing entirely to do that around the world. I would submit our United States Air Force is the only air force on the planet that can project forces at that speed, at that scale, and that range.”
Spain highlighted what training provides to the force.
“One of the reasons we’re the world’s greatest Air Force is because we train hard,” Spain said. “We challenge ourselves in training and we’re not training just to look good and we’re not training to make ourselves feel better. We’re training to learn lessons.” The ACC commander continued, talking about intentionally pushing both Airmen and weapon systems in training scenarios. “The lessons we’re going to garner from it are going to help us propel our combat capabilities even farther and faster.”
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Dylan Gurski and Senior Airman Oliver Budd, crew chiefs, assist an F-22 Raptor pilot in disembarking from the cockpit, all deployed with the 3rd Air Expeditionary Wing, during exercise Resolute Force Pacific 2025 in Tinian, North Mariana Islands, July 17, 2025. REFORPAC is part of a first-in-a-generation Department-Level Exercise series, employing more than 400 Joint and coalition aircraft and more than 12,000 members at more than 50 locations across 3,000 miles. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman J. Michael Peña)
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Spain also highlighted the importance of the allies and partners in the DLE.
“These exercises are an opportunity for us to train with our allies and partners in ways that we often don’t get to [train],” Spain said. “So, while we’re getting better, it’s really about the joint and coalition team getting better.”
As the leaders discussed lessons learned, Miller talked about the Space Force taking advantage of the large-scale effort to continue developing its capabilities.
“What the Joint Force needs from the Space Force as a decisive [capability] is really two things; deliver that space-enabled combat edge” in a contested environment, said Miller, “while simultaneously protecting our joint force, including ourselves, from space-enabled attack. … The lessons learned directly apply to the threats we are facing today, and more importantly underscore the investments we have made and are making … to allow us to not just keep pace but outpace potential adversaries.”
The PACAF and AMC commanders talked about the lessons learned in integrating their command-and-control structures, and about making sure authorities are delegated to the appropriate level to enable mission command.
“The exercises allowed us to put a really hot and effective spotlight on those places on which we can improve,” Schneider said. “People, pipes, and processes [are what we need] when it comes to command and control. Where do the people need to be? Where do the command-and-control nodes need to be? … What are the pipes or pathways … that we need to be able to communicate with each other?”
A C-130J Super Hercules assigned to the 19th Airlift Wing, a C-130J-30 Super Hercules assigned to the Royal New Zealand Air Force, a C-130H Super Hercules assigned to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, and a C-130 Hercules assigned to the South Korea air force prepare for takeoff on the runway at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, before flying by the 81st Liberation Day Parade in Hagåtña, Guam, leveraging a training sortie during the Air Force’s 2025 Department-Level Exercise series, July 21, 2025. The DLE series encompasses all branches of the Department of Defense, along with allies and partners, employing more than 400 joint and coalition aircraft and more than 12,000 members at more than 50 locations across 3,000 miles. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Tyler McQuiston)
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The PACAF commander continued to expand on what he meant by processes.
“When it comes to force generation under [my commander of Air Force Forces] hat, really being able push decision making as far downhill as I can, and the risk decisions that go along with that, the people who are in the best position to make those determinations – where airplanes need to go, when they need to launch, where the fuel or munitions need to go – is not necessarily me … but an air expeditionary wing commander at the front edge of the fight. [That person] is dealing with the force protection issues, knows where their stuff is, and knows how to move their disaggregated force around hubs and spokes to reaggregate quickly.”
The ACC commander underlined the value of conducting this type of realistic, integrated exercises.
“We can do it, and we did it,” Spain said. “The ability to continue to do this kind of exercise is the most important lesson as a force provider. We have to continue to provide this venue and bring these events together in ways that stress our force for large-scale employment in ways that we haven’t done in a very long time. The sets and reps required to get proficient in this only come with doing it.”
Four F-35 Lightning IIs fly over the island of Guam as part of its 81st Liberation Day Parade in Hagatna, Guam, July 21, 2025. The parade consists of multiple bands, marchers, and U.S. military aircraft flyovers honoring the day the U.S. liberated Guam during World War II. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Kentavist P. Brackin)
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Miller stated it’s okay to expect the most out of people.
“Our Guardians and the Airmen that are in our formations – we have never taken that much capability in personnel out of operational formations to support the tactical level across so many different locations before,” Miller said. “They performed superbly. The second piece is [the exercise] really validated the necessity of our new [space] force generation model, where we carve out time dedicated to specific training, tactics development, integration, and ultimately training and exercising evolutions that we need. It dialed in our approach.”
Lamontagne identified the many players that made up the “big team” of the full exercise, including active duty, Air National Guard, Reserve forces, airlift, air refueling, aeromedical evacuation, maintenance and load crews, and civil reserve air fleet partners. He identified the critical development of the US relationship with its allies and partners in this type of exercise.
“With our allies and partners, we had a great opportunity to interfly with them, not just providing gas and fuel for them to extend across the vast ranges of the Pacific, but also interflying within and across formations. So, their airplanes within our air refueling formations, as well as in our airlift formations at pretty good depth, a great opportunity for us to get better and stronger together,” Lamontagne said. He shared that it’s the United States’ responsibility to share our capabilities with our allies, but that it is actually a mutual relationship. “We are also on the receiving end of some of their capabilities. Our Canadian allies have some really robust [aeromedical evacuation] capabilities that actually surpass ours in some areas.”
The generals wrapped up the discussion by talking about what lies ahead for future force development, and how they are providing feedback to the entire enterprise from lessons learned this summer.
“We have to show up, full up, as ready fighting units that can snap into existing [command and control] structures,” Schneider said. He talked about the need for C2 systems to be built from inception to be releasable to allies and partners, and to have the flexibility to shift authorities as needed in a contested environment.
“We [the Department of the Air Force and industry] have to ensure that integrated by design is not a buzz word and it’s not a catch phrase, and we’re actually executing it,” said Spain, explaining that should a contingency need to be addressed in the near term, the current force needs to be able to operate with what it has, and that new technology development must be backwards compatible to work with current systems.
“The path we’re on is the right path,” Lamontagne said. “We’re moving out right now.” The AMC commander talked about prepositioning equipment throughout the Pacific theater to be there for contingencies, but to also be used in everyday operations. He also talked about building connectivity through beyond-line-of-sight secure communications and tactical datalinks wired into not just the front of the aircraft, but into the back to support the Joint Force.
Miller ended the panel discussion by talking about the level of complexity and scale of the challenge the United States military is facing.
“We are going to have to expect more and more from the tactical-level units of action, executing mission command, using mission type orders, and they need to have the wherewithal and capability to do it,” said the SpOC commander.
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