Page 3 - Aerotech News and Review – March 2024

Bamboo Eagle 24-1 lands at Edwards AFB
Photo by Photo by H arley H untington An F-3 5A Lightning I I assigned to the 3 8 8 th Fighter W ing, out of H ill Air Force Base, Utah, taxis during the inaugural Bamboo Eagle exercise at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Jan. 29, 2024.
By Laisa Leao
412th Test Wing Public Affairs
ED WARD SAIRFORCEBASE,Calif.—The4 1 2 thTest Wing answered the call of duty in support of Bamboo E agle, a live􏰀fly exercise that teams over 3,000 service members across four branches to fly, maintain and support more than 150 aircraft at E dwards and other operating locations.
Combat warfighters are placed in a multi􏰀domain, disaggregated high􏰀end conflict during this large􏰀scale exercise organized by the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center located at Nellis AF􏰁, Nev.
A key element of the exercise requires units to operate in a lo- cation other than their home base to simulate a forward-deployed environment.
“Our main operating bases in the current environment cannot be assumed to be protected against peer adversaries, so you have to distribute operations across as many locations as possible to provide survivability for your forces and not depend on one se- cure site,” said Lt. Col. Robert Newton, 􏰂12th Operations Support Squadron commander.
E dwards was chosen because of the 4 1 2 th Test Wing’s ability to support F􏰀35 Lighting II operations.
“E dwardsisparticularlyidealforanexerciselikeBambooE agle that addresses how we are going to operate in a hostile environ- ment. The real estate and airspace here provide us the needed ma- neuverability to work with all of these partners in the same place,” said Lt. Col. David Schmitt, 􏰂12th Operations Group commander.
On top of carrying on activities related to E dwards’ day-to-day operations, including flight test, the 􏰂12th OSS received F􏰀35As from Hill AF􏰁, Utah, F􏰀35􏰁s from Marine Fighter Attack S􏰃uad- ron 􏰄VMFA􏰅 211, and C􏰀17 Globemaster IIIs and C􏰀130s from Air Mobility Command, exemplifying agile combat employment.
Newton said the AC􏰆 concept is vital to how the Air Force will fight future conflicts. Training exercises such as 􏰁amboo 􏰆agle affords multiple units across different branches the opportunity to “train how we fight.”
“The Operation Support Squadron provides all the roles that naturally fall into the Operations Group but don’t naturally fit into a flight s􏰃uadron. Whether that’s airfield support, air traffic control, aircrew fight e􏰃uipment, maintenance of the radars or other activity that support airfield operations day􏰀in and day􏰀out,” said Newton.
March 1, 2024
Photo by Christian Raterman A 􏰇-1􏰈0 􏰉ercules prepares for flight during the inaugural Ba􏰊boo Eagle e􏰋ercise at Edwards Air Force Base, 􏰇alif., 􏰌an. 􏰍􏰎, 􏰍0􏰍􏰂.
Photo by Christian Raterman
F-3 5Bs from the 3 rd Marine Aircraft W ing participate in the inaugural Bamboo Eagle exercise at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Jan 29, 2024.
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