Airmen in the 74th and 75th Fighter Generation Squadrons tested this concept during exercise Mosaic Tiger 26-1 at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, Nov. 17, 2025.
For this combat readiness exercise, Moody Airmen were split into multiple different locations and with unique challenges at each one - the main operating base, the forward operating site, or FOS and a contingency location. The Airmen at the FOS are implementing Agile Combat Employment to showcase their ability to conduct operations in a contested environment with limited resources. As in, whatever those Airmen brought with them, they need to use judiciously until a future resupply. This responsible restriction on their equipment supply drives innovation and an expectation of competency, a reflection of their day-to-day rigorous training.
"They should be doing maintenance just like they do it at home station," said Col. Bobby Buckner, 23d Maintenance Group commander. "When you're in war, or you're deployed, or at a Forward Operating Site, I really need all hands on deck. Pushing a trailer or helping with a ladder, handing a tool to someone who needs it, that's where I need my Airmen working as a team and pulling their weight."
The standard equipment that would typically be brought to a FOS consists of technical data, aircraft specific maintenance kits with spare parts and other supplies, such as oil. Everything brought would be able to keep the aircraft running for a predetermined amount of time until a resupply could reach them.
Even with limited equipment, the Airmen innovate and adapt to the changing environment to keep the force lethal and ready. Airmen often look at ways to tactfully use or, rather, re-use parts to keep jets flying.
"Whether we're at a FOS or home station we're always reaching out to our engineers to see if we can repair it ourselves or get the engineers to do an approval where we can keep flying," Buckner said. "There's a few new things we have done, but otherwise, our biggest innovative solution is our Airmen and their ability to evaluate what is going to get a jet mission ready."
Innovative Airmen have been training for situations like this every day by being frugal with resources.
"Being responsible for what supplies we do have on site all leads back to ensuring that we stay accountable and utilize all resources available," said Staff Sgt. William Flores, 75th FGS crew chief. "Take oil for example, if we're burning too much oil we may want to swap jets so we're not using more oil than we can supply, and by doing that, we can maintain air operations."
A U.S. Air Force Airman walks across the flightline as maintainers inspect an A-10C Thunderbolt II during exercise Mosaic Tiger 26-1 at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., Nov. 17, 2025. The exercise tests Agile Combat Employment concepts by dispersing Airmen and equipment across multiple locations to sustain combat airpower in contested environments. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Iain Stanley)
That resourcefulness is vital, not just for the individual jets, but for the entire mission. While individual maintainers may not always see the direct impact of their efforts, they are crucial to the bigger picture.
"It's not much different," said Senior Airman Nathan Leininger, 75th FGS maintainer, about being at the simulated FOS vs. Moody AFB "Day to day we try our best to maintain professionalism and to recycle and reduce waste we have for these jets. It's just another day with body armor for us out on the flightline."
By adapting to scarce resources, rethinking how to employ equipment and relying on teamwork, maintenance Airmen proved they can keep aircraft mission-ready even under austere or contested conditions. Their ability to innovate under pressure highlights that in the ACE environment, the service's greatest asset remains its Airmen.
