U.S. Air Force focuses on future of Indo-Pacific alliances, Agile Combat Employment

The Cope North 2022 exercise in Guam marked a decade of Indo-Pacific security cooperation between Japan, Australia and the United States, and an opportunity to modernize training for the future.

Cope North tests how well medics from the three nations operate during challenging scenarios, and to strengthen partnerships.

"Large exercises like Cope North provide an opportunity to prepare for future missions that will require us to work seamlessly with partner nations," said Lt. Col. Cherielynne Gabriel, Pacific Air Forces International Health Specialist team lead. "We have to practice using each other's equipment and communicating under difficult circumstances, to be ready to save lives when it counts."

Agile Combat Employment

Knowing that future contingencies will be unlike the past, International Health Specialist coordinators focused on integratingAgile Combat Employment concepts in the exercise. ACE doctrine, which was approved in December by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., emphasizes sustaining a competitive advantage in a contested environment.

ACE decentralizes command and control in a situation where communication is interrupted, and higher-level support is limited. It empowers Airmen and increases the speed of maneuvering dispersed assets and personnel.

Decentralization helps address the challenges of operating across a vast ocean dotted with islands. Agreements with partner nations to share resources aids in developing a network that can continue working together or independently if one or more of its components is disconnected.

"To put ACE into practice during the exercise, the United States operated the main hub on Guam while the Royal Australian Air Force operated two spokes on other islands with expeditionary medical support facilities," said Lt. Col. Nelson Pacheco, international health specialist and Cope North 2022 lead medical planner. "Each of the treatment facilities would be able to continue patient movement operations in the case of losing support from the main hub."

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