Busy skies near this Sacramento airport? Air Force crews staying sharp in joint exercise
Air Force air crews in the skies above McClellan Airport are staying combat ready in a joint exercise with airmen from Great Britain, Australia and Canada’s air forces.
The operation, dubbed Bamboo Eagle 25-1, and based out of the U.S. Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base, near Las Vegas, began Monday, Air Force officials said in a statement. McClellan near North Highlands is among the sites participating in the exercise, said officials at the 9th Reconnaissance Wing, based out of Beale Air Force Base, near Marysville.
Bee readers have noticed the increased flights in and out of the former McClellan Air Force Base aside from the lumbering C-130 Hercules and firefighting aircraft employed by the U.S. Coast Guard and Cal Fire based there. The additional aircraft spotted in recent days include C-130s and KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft.
Air Force officials say the exercise will test coalition forces’ ability to send aircraft, personnel and equipment to unfamiliar airfields, making sure they can do so under combat pressure.
The U.S. airmen in Bamboo Eagle working alongside crews from Royal Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, and Royal Canadian Air Force, are focused on what Air Force officials call “Agile Combat Employment.” The strategy “ensures forces can quickly adjust, relocate and sustain operations from multiple locations, even in contested environments.”
“We have had the luxury of operating from safe haven bases for many decades, and modern threats have fundamentally changed that reality,” said Major Gen. Christopher Niemi, commander of the Air Force’s Warfare Center, in a statement. “Bamboo Eagle is a big part of helping us figure out how to manage those threats, and training together with our allies improves our ability to face those threats as a unified team.”
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