The Mississippi Air National Guard's 186th Air Refueling Wing at Key Field near Meridian will be crowded for a few weeks with several hundred guardsmen on base for an annual training exercise. The Alaska Air National Guard's 176th Wing, under the command of Brig. Gen. Tony Stratton, is training under a new Air Force doctrine known as Agile Combat Employment (ACE) and have come to Mississippi to practice. “We do a lot of operation things where we move airplanes around,” Stratton said, but have the logistics footprint and capability to do it. The ACE doctrine calls for fewer airmen to set up critical infrastructure and equipment in support of AF operational forces. The focus of the exercise is the Indo-Pacific region, he said, “So long distances, contingency locations, bare bases and then being agile and moving at a rapid rate so that we can’t be targeted by our enemy.” The 2-week training is designed to place airmen on a simulated island. They will participate in supporting operational teams. One aspect of training will be “hot refueling” of a fighter jet while still running. This year’s Key Field exercises will be the third time Stratton’s troops have practiced the ACE doctrine and the furthest it has traveled to test their skills. (Meridian Star 04/17/23)
SIDEBAR: The exercise centers on emerging ACE tactics, techniques and procedures and multi-capable Airmen training. Army special operations forces were among the participants that conduct counterinsurgency, close air support, search and rescue, noncombatant evacuation and maritime special operations.
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