240202-F-IP109-1013
Airmen from Yokota Air Base, Japan; Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii; Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska; and Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, align various skillsets to execute the first-ever Air Mobility Command-to-F-22 Raptor aircraft-to-aircraft refueling from a Charleston C-17 Globemaster III to a JBER F-22 Raptor during Exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-1 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, Feb. 2, 2024. Nellis AFB served as the hub and command-and-control force element within the hub-and-spoke concept of operations during BE 24-1, with more than 10 geographically-separated locations serving as the spokes. During the exercise warfighters implemented all-domain combat-power generation from disaggregated basing locations throughout the western part of the U.S., while incorporating scenarios in distributed command and control, agile logistics, and tactical air-to-air refueling. Airmen also tackled agile combat employment, and the larger challenges of persistent logistics, by adapting techniques most often associated with special operations forces but on a much larger scale. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Curt Beach)