IRIA News

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The U.S. Air Force Warfare Center launched Bamboo Eagle, a joint exercise bringing together the U.S. Air Force and allied forces from the Royal UK Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, and for the first time, the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The Allied forces are taking part in Bamboo Eagle 25-1 and Red Flag 25-1 air combat exercises. These exercises aim to strengthen cooperation, enhance agility, and improve combat readiness to bolster interoperability. The Air Force Warfare Center is leading the air combat exercise from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

The Bamboo Eagle exercise focuses on Agile Combat Employment, a strategy designed to enable forces to rapidly adapt, reposition, and maintain operations across various locations, even in challenging or contested environments.

This year’s exercise involved more than a dozen day and night missions with 110 hours of flights and 81 Typhoon sorties. About 140 aircraft including F-35, EA-18 Growler, Typhoon jets, and air refuelers joined the drills.

The U.S. Air Force KC-46 and 10 KC-135 tanker aircraft supported various missions during the exercise and the B-2 stealth bomber also demonstrated its unmatched capabilities. The Australian Air Force deployed its 18 aircraft and 430 aviators to take part in the air combat exercise

According to sources, the U.S. E-3 Sentry surveillance, command, control, and communications aircraft and the UK’s E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft also took part in the combat drills.

8️⃣🌙missions
9️⃣☀missions
8️⃣1️⃣Typhoon sorties
1️⃣1️⃣0️⃣+ Hrs flown

1️⃣4️⃣0️⃣+ Aircraft refuelled by Voyager including Typhoon, F-35 & EA-18 Growlers ✈️

Over 7️⃣0️⃣5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ LBs of fuel dispensed💪⛽️

Now Ex BAMBOO EAGLE begins, keep watching!👀 @RoyalAirForce @AusAirForce @usairforce pic.twitter.com/dqYJPCRSC0

— Defence Operations 🇬🇧 (@DefenceOps) February 12, 2025

U.S. Air Force Warfare Center Commander, Major General Christopher Niemi said, “We have had the luxury of operating from safe haven bases for many decades, and modern threats have fundamentally changed that reality.”

Major General Christopher Niemi added, “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.”

During the exercise, the Allied forces tested the integrated battle management system and practiced rapid response and sustainment in complex battle environments, as well as enhanced coordination with standardized tactics, techniques, and procedures for joint operations.

The exercise involved simulating real-world combat scenarios to test adaptability under pressure and enhanced defensive and offensive capabilities against evolving threats.

Royal Australian Air Force Group Captain Stewart Seeney said, “This is the largest number of aircraft we’ve deployed for an exercise at Nellis (AFB) since we first attended Red Flag in 1980.”

“These exercises provide a realistic training environment where we can integrate different capabilities and develop our ability to work with key allies and partners. For many of our aviators, deploying on these exercises is a career highlight and is not an experience that can be easily replicated elsewhere,” he added.

Exercise Bamboo Eagle

The large-scale exercise Bamboo Eagle is led by the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center. It is designed to evaluate and enhance the ability of joint and coalition forces to deploy aircraft, equipment, and personnel to unfamiliar airfields while maintaining operational effectiveness under pressure.

The main purpose of this exercise is to build a more agile and resilient force capable of deterring threats in an increasingly dynamic security landscape, the U.S. Air Force statement highlighted.

During the last year’s exercise Bamboo Eagle, about 3,000 U.S. service members across four branches, and 300 members of the Royal Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force, as well as more than 150 aircraft took part in the drills.

As global security threats become more complex, exercises like Bamboo Eagle help the U.S. and its allies maintain readiness for a coordinated response. By enhancing international and joint partnerships, the exercise underscores a shared commitment to stability, security, and cooperation throughout the Indo-Pacific region.