{"id":30201,"date":"2021-05-03T23:14:31","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T23:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/05\/03\/have-bombs-will-travel-how-agile-deployments-are-reshaping-combat-in-the-middle-east\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:46:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:46:41","slug":"have-bombs-will-travel-how-agile-deployments-are-reshaping-combat-in-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/05\/03\/have-bombs-will-travel-how-agile-deployments-are-reshaping-combat-in-the-middle-east\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Have bombs, will travel\u2019: How agile deployments are reshaping combat in the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force\u2019s latest push for a more flexible force \u2014 known as agile combat employment \u2014 could help the service keep airmen at home longer and its aircraft readiness up, the leader of a key expeditionary wing in the Middle East told Air Force Times April 30. But deployments could become more intense for airmen when they do go abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adopting ACE into regular operations across the force would likely increase the pace and frequency of missions, said Brig. Gen. Larry Broadwell, commander of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But that\u2019s not the only measure of military prowess \u2014 it\u2019s also about efficiency. The service wants to outsmart its adversaries and limit geographic weaknesses without sending many more people overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last week, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2019\/10\/24\/f-15e-strike-eagles-deploy-to-al-dhafra\/\" target=_blank>494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron<\/a> out of RAF Lakenheath, England, touted its first attempt to use multiple fighter jets as munitions trucks on April 25 while en route from an undisclosed location to Al Dhafra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Six F-15E Strike Eagles carried 12 GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions, double their usual load. The squadron calls it their \u201chave bombs, will travel\u201d configuration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe were asked to come out and support combat missions with a very short turnaround, and with the bombs not being built previously here for us,\u201d Capt. Jessica Niswonger, a weapon system officer and mission planner at the squadron, said in a release. \u201cBy carrying more bombs than we\u2019d actually carry to drop, we\u2019re setting up the initial days of combat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2020\/11\/12\/air-bases-are-at-risk-without-the-agile-combat-employment-approach\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/49580581732_92648fe466_k.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">With air bases at risk, Agile Combat Employment must mature<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The U.S. Air Force must evolve from its dependence on well-established airfields, or risk yielding an operational edge.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the excess weapons aren\u2019t meant to be fired in a combat operation, using a fighter jet as an airlifter can lessen a unit\u2019s reliance on busy transport planes. After ferrying munitions to their destination, the weapons can be loaded onto other aircraft that are ready to head out to the battlefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Agile deployments move faster when airmen are trained in multiple skills outside of their typical job. It takes about three hours to ready a fighter jet to go again after it returns from an ACE mission, Chief Master Sgt. Timothy Mackey of the 494th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Unit told Air Force Times. The more people who can do the job of a crew chief, for instance, the faster a jet can get back in the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1199\" height=\"629\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/494th-Expeditionary-Fighter-Squadron.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-58654\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/494th-Expeditionary-Fighter-Squadron.jpg.jpg 1199w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/494th-Expeditionary-Fighter-Squadron.jpg.jpg?resize=300,157 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/494th-Expeditionary-Fighter-Squadron.jpg.jpg?resize=768,403 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/494th-Expeditionary-Fighter-Squadron.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,537 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1199px) 100vw, 1199px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron arrives at an undisclosed location to assume responsibility for combat operations in support of Operation Inherent Resolve April 20th 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Units are still refining what kind of cross-training they want to pursue to support ACE without overwhelming people <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2019\/10\/24\/f-15e-strike-eagles-deploy-to-al-dhafra\/\" target=_blank>\u2014<\/a> for instance, whether a maintainer should be pulling double-duty with security forces when needed, or if the maintainer should know how to care for multiple kinds of planes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That flexibility can help the United States keep up with its military objectives in the Middle East and elsewhere, as American troops withdraw from Afghanistan and combat needs change around the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Broadwell pointed to a Europe-based unit that came to CENTCOM several months ago and hopped around the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey were here in CENTCOM, but before they made it back to [U.S. European Command], they were actually tasked and they supported operations in [U.S. Africa Command],\u201d he said. \u201cPerhaps the tempo wasn\u2019t enhanced, but they were available to do things that no one else was available to do just because they were here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shuffling airmen around multiple continents for missions on top of their original tasking is no small feat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2019\/10\/24\/f-15e-strike-eagles-deploy-to-al-dhafra\/\" target=_blank>\u2014<\/a> and could risk burning out troops even more after decades of nonstop combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Broadwell said the difficulty of preparing airmen to take on flights as needed will depend on how well they\u2019re trained for rapid deployments and what they\u2019re asked to do. Sometimes it\u2019s a two-day, out-and-back mission; other times it\u2019s traveling somewhere undeveloped and new for at least a month of continuous combat operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s unclear how long airmen might typically spend on ACE missions without returning to home base, but the service is moving toward packing more sorties into shorter deployments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Limiting deployment time can help jets stay ready for flight ops while still giving regional commanders the airpower they want, he added. That can translate to larger organizations like his own air expeditionary wing as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1199\" height=\"629\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Expeditionary-Aircraft-Maintenance.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-58659\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Expeditionary-Aircraft-Maintenance.jpg.jpg 1199w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Expeditionary-Aircraft-Maintenance.jpg.jpg?resize=300,157 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Expeditionary-Aircraft-Maintenance.jpg.jpg?resize=768,403 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Expeditionary-Aircraft-Maintenance.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,537 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1199px) 100vw, 1199px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Airmen with the 332nd Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron work on an F-15E Strike Eagle April 8, 2018, at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia. The aircraft are with the 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron and support Operation Inherent Resolve. The 332nd EMXS and 494th EFS are deployed from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Krystal Wright)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re still kind of discovering what that [mission time] cutoff would be, or some general rules to use,\u201d Broadwell said. \u201cOur recent track record continues to prove that ACE is very effective at delivering on the combatant commander objectives and returning the unit in a higher state of readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Figuring out how to adjust the logistics train of parts, refueling equipment, maintenance crews and other assets the Air Force needs to keep its planes flying is a bigger challenge that\u2019s still in the works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while a large fleet of jets like fighters can more easily spread aircraft around the world, smaller groups of planes tasked with missions like intelligence collection will have a harder time being available for agile deployment demands, Broadwell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn large measure, much of what we\u2019re learning about sustainment and maintaining and operating these platforms, a lot of it is actually transferable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2021\/01\/25\/rethinking-the-air-expeditionary-wing\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"158\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Air-AEWweb.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Rethinking the air expeditionary wing<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">As dynamic force employment becomes the preferred engagement option, shouldn\u2019t it also inspire an evolution in our existing air expeditionary wing deployment model?<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another issue the Air Force faces as it tries to decentralize combat ops is how to direct units that are moving around more than in the past. He predicts wings will have to take on more command-and-control responsibilities to keep up over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis depends on the pace of activity, the volume of the number of units that we\u2019re talking about,\u201d Broadwell said. \u201cWe could exceed traditional [Combined Air Operations Center] capacity, just with the sheer number and the C2 requirements if we started moving people all around the theater.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Deployments longer than a few months wouldn\u2019t be completely off the table, however. Sometimes getting a job done requires sticking around as long as is needed, Broadwell said. But the Air Force could still limit its dependence on a network of brick-and-mortar bases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBack in the day, an air expeditionary wing really was expeditionary,\u201d Broadwell said, noting that Al Dhafra has supported U.S. Air Force operations in CENTCOM since 1990. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say I\u2019m expeditionary when I\u2019ve been here 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Making combat operations across the force more agile would likely increase the pace and frequency of missions, but grow the Air Force&#8217;s efficiency, the head of a key expeditionary wing said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":58650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":67,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news","left-column","home"],"primary_category":"your-military"}}},"categories":[101,24,88,16,26,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3392],"class_list":["post-30201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-air-force"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"R4FMVOS4XNBYJM735UMKLGG7MY","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/05\/03\/have-bombs-will-travel-how-agile-deployments-are-reshaping-combat-in-the-middle-east\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Have bombs, will travel\u2019: How agile deployments are reshaping combat in the Middle East - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Making combat operations across the force more agile would likely increase the pace and frequency of missions, but grow the Air Force&#039;s efficiency, the head of a key expeditionary wing said.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Have bombs, will travel\u2019: How agile deployments are reshaping combat in the Middle East\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Making combat operations across the force more agile would likely increase the pace and frequency of missions, but grow the Air Force&#039;s efficiency, the head of a key expeditionary wing said.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2021\/05\/03\/have-bombs-will-travel-how-agile-deployments-are-reshaping-combat-in-the-middle-east\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Air Force TImes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-03T23:14:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T20:46:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rachel S. 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