Trilateral Cope North Exercise To Test ‘Agile’ Air Ops On Austere Airfields
The Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept uses a 'hub and spoke' network of permanent, well-established 'hubs' and more remote, austere 'spokes'," says Air Force Brig. Gen. Jeremy Sloane, commander of the 36th Air Wing in Guam.
By Theresa Hitchens on January 27, 2021 at 11:24 AM
WASHINGTON: The US, Japan and Australia will test their ability to work together, especially in keeping supplies moving while under attack, during Cope North 2021 in two weeks.
During the exercise, the U.S. Air Force will focus on its Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept, says Brig. Gen. Jeremy Sloane, who commands the 36th Air Wing at Andersen AFB in Guam. The annual Cope North exercise includes the US Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force and the Japanese Self Defense Forces. In 2020 the exercise, included roughly 2,500 participants, Sloane said, and nearly 100 aircraft.
The ACE concept is the Air Force’s effort to figure out how to overcome expected attacks on supply chains, depots and bases, known as ‘logistics under attack,’ in a conflict with China or Russia. Logistics under attack — ‘contested logistics,’ is one of the sub-elements of the US military’s developing Joint Warfighting Concept for prosecuting operations simultaneously and seamlessly across the air, land, sea, space and cyberspace domains.
https://breakingdefense.com/2021/01/trilateral-cope-north-exercise-to-test-agile-air-ops-on-austere-airfields/
