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[Global Times Special Correspondent Wu Yan Global Times Reporter Ma Jun] The US Air Force's "Red Flag" series of exercises have always been known for being highly close to actual combat, and its upgraded version, the larger-scale "Bamboo Eagle" exercise, has been frequently carried out in the eastern Pacific since this year. The US media has openly claimed that this is preparing for a large-scale conflict with China. A Chinese expert interviewed by a reporter from the Global Times said on the 14th that the major branches of the US military have been practicing various so-called "new tactics" under the guise of "China threat" in recent years, but the essence is still to find ways to get more military spending. In fact, even the US Air Force itself admits that the concept of "agile combat application" that has received much attention in recent years has many difficulties in practice.

Almost all types of U.S. military fighter jets were unveiled

The U.S. Defense One website said on the 13th that the "Bamboo Eagle 24-3" air exercise that just ended involved more than 20 troops, more than 150 military aircraft of different types and more than 3,000 soldiers. This series of exercises is an extension of the "Red Flag" exercise held at Nellis Air Force Base. As in the past, participants of the "Red Flag" exercise, including fighter jets from the United Kingdom and Australia, have also joined the "Bamboo Eagle" exercise.

F-15E and F-22 fighter jets participating in the exercise

"As an air force, we are learning that we will be on the front line," said Major General Christopher Niemi, commander of the U.S. Air Force Air Combat Center. He said that the U.S. Air Force no longer has the "luxury of security" to fight from rear bases, and pilots participating in the exercise will be required to maintain the same combat rhythm as before, but must face "the threat of large-scale enemy firepower that has never been seen before." This is completely different from the "Red Flag" exercise, which usually only allows pilots to familiarize themselves with the opponent's tactics and air combat techniques through simulation exercises. In the "Bamboo Eagle" exercise, "from C-130 transport aircraft loading cargo to F-22 stealth fighters engaging the enemy, the U.S. military's air combat chain was completely exposed to the threat of opponents for the first time."

The U.S. website "Dynamics" said that although the U.S. Air Force did not specify the fighter jets participating in the exercise, since the "Bamboo Eagle 24-3" exercise kicked off on August 2, various types of military aircraft have frequently taken off and landed at military and civilian airports in the United States. Preliminary statistics show that the U.S. military aircraft participating in the exercise include F-22 and F-35A stealth fighters, F-15 andF-16 fighter, B-1B and B-52 strategic bombers, as well as multiple types of aerial refueling aircraft, E-3 early warning aircraft,C-130JC-17 transport aircraft, E-11 battlefield communications node aircraft, and RC-135 electronic reconnaissance aircraft appeared in the exercise airspace, and U.S. Navy and Marine Corps troops also participated.

In addition, the exercise also deployed a large number of "adversary" forces provided by the U.S. Air Force and private contractors for a highly realistic confrontation. For example, the 57th Information Adversary Squadron under the 57th Wing of the U.S. Air Force was responsible for simulating the opponent's attacks on computer networks and information systems; the 507th Air Defense Adversary Squadron was responsible for simulating the adversary's air defense system; the famous 64th and 65th "Intruder" Squadrons and the 706th Adversary Squadron under the 926th Wing were responsible for simulating the enemy's air defense system;F-16, F-15 and F-35 fighter jets simulated the main fighter jets of the imaginary enemy. In addition, several F-5 fighter jets provided by private contractors also participated in the exercise as imaginary enemies. It can be regarded as a rare "big scene" of actual combat training in the United States.

Focus on the exercise of "agile combat application"

It has become the norm for the U.S. Air Force to hone its air combat skills with the help of simulated enemy forces during exercises.PentagonStatistics show that after completing 10 combat missions, the pilots' battlefield survivability will be greatly improved. For this reason, the U.S. Air Force specially organizes the annual "Red Flag" exercise to enable pilots of the United States and its allies to master air combat skills as much as possible through highly simulated air combat confrontation exercises. In recent years' "Red Flag" series of exercises, the U.S. military has also increasingly targeted the simulation of the PLA's equipment and combat skills. For example, the 65th "Aggressor" Squadron deliberately replaced an F-35A stealth fighter with the slit camouflage paint used by the Chinese J-20 stealth fighter, and claimed that "in the future, it will focus on imitating the Chinese Air Force."

But the emergence of the "Bamboo Eagle" exercise shows that the US Air Force is still not satisfied with this. Ken Wilsbach, commander of the US Air Combat Command, which organized the "Bamboo Eagle" exercise, said: "The 'Bamboo Eagle' exercise is a valuable opportunity for our pilots to test their skills and show their readiness in the face of great power competition." General David Alvin, Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, said: "The purpose of such a fast and large-scale exercise is to demonstrate the US Air Force's readiness for complex and large-scale military operations and its ability to respond to high-end threats in a controversial and dynamic environment." Major General Niemi also advocated that the "Bamboo Eagle" exercise is a change made by the US Air Force in response to "great power competition". This exercise will ensure that the US military has the key ability to counter "anti-access" threats and project forces anytime and anywhere around the world in the rapidly changing modern strategic landscape.

F-35A fighter group

Brigadier General Richard Goodman, commander of the 57th Wing of the U.S. Air Force, said that the focus of the "Bamboo Eagle" exercise is to "prepare for large-scale conflicts in the Pacific region." "'Bamboo Eagle' is very important. It is not to replace the 'Red Flag' exercise, but to supplement and enhance our combat capabilities. The scale and training objects of this exercise are different. It will still prepare participants for battle like the 'Red Flag' exercise, but it also includes logistics and rapid combat deployment, supply and transportation. This is a big deal!"

The "Power" website stated that the "Bamboo Eagle" exercise includes attacks on maritime and long-range targets, which is very worthy of attention, because long-term sea flights not only provide very different perspectives and special challenges for the crew, but also involve complex logistics, including how the U.S. Air Force handles material supplies in the Pacific. "Such training scenarios are very similar to the combat scenarios of the U.S. military and its allies in the future when they conflict with China in the Pacific." The report mentioned that due to the vast Pacific Ocean, the number of airports available to the U.S. military in the Western Pacific is very limited, which is completely different from the situation of densely populated airports on the European continent. Therefore, if the U.S. Air Force wants to fight in the Pacific, it often needs the assistance of refueling aircraft, and the related scheduling is very complicated. In the "Bamboo Eagle" exercise, the U.S. military once dispatched 17 refueling aircraft at the same time to test the U.S. military's ability to organize large-scale aerial refueling.

What is particularly noteworthy is that the "Bamboo Eagle" exercise focuses on the "agile combat use". According to the assessment of the US Air Force, once a large-scale conflict breaks out, it will be difficult for the US military bases currently distributed in the first and second island chains to survive the long-range strike firepower of the People's Liberation Army. In order to improve the wartime survivability of US fighter jets, it is necessary to disperse multiple fighter units to different locations and maintain frequent maneuvers, and the relevant command agencies and logistics support forces also need to be dispersed. However, remote airports that are not easily attacked often have problems such as incomplete equipment and difficult support. At the same time, if these fighter jets stay on the ground for a long time and are frequently dispatched, they are also prone to attacks. Previously, the US Air Force has tested how to integrate the combat capabilities of transport aircraft and F-22 stealth fighters through exercises. For example, after precise scheduling, the transport aircraft and F-22 landed at the front-line airport almost one after another. The C-130 carries the fuel, ammunition and maintenance equipment required for the F-22 operation to ensure that the fighter jets can take off quickly and return to the battle. After completing the support, the C-130 also quickly left the airport to avoid being hit by the opponent.

Goodman said the U.S. Air Force further tested issues such as distributed bases, challenging command and control, distributed operations and "how to commit air combat power at a time and place of our choosing" during the Bamboo Eagle exercise.

The effectiveness of such exercises by the US military is questionable

Chinese experts interviewed by the Global Times said that both the Red Flag and Bamboo Eagle exercises show that the US Air Force is increasingly targeting China as its imaginary enemy in future operations. As the US media said, the US Air Force's original training was mainly aimed at the European battlefield, including the combat performance design of fighter jets and tactics, which are not very suitable for the combat environment in the Pacific. Especially with the rapid modernization of the People's Liberation Army in recent years, the US Air Force, feeling pressure, has launched a series of targeted actions in recent years. We need to remain highly vigilant about this.

In fact, not only the U.S. Air Force, but also the U.S. Navy, Army and Marine Corps have proposed a series of new concepts and tactics such as "distributed lethality concept", "multi-domain task force" and "expeditionary forward base operations" under the guise of "responding to the Chinese threat" in recent years. They also require the construction of special equipment such as ultra-long-range artillery and light landing ships. However, experts believe that these new tactics proposed by the U.S. military are more used to seize resources and compete for military funding, and they are even willing to undermine each other for this purpose. For example, the U.S. Army proposed the "Long-Range StrategicCannon"Concept, claiming that its maximum range is more than 1,000 miles, specifically designed to undermine China's "anti-access/area denial" capabilities, but U.S. Navy and Air Force officials ridiculed it as "a bad, outdated design." The concept of "agile combat employment" practiced by the U.S. Air Force in the "Bamboo Eagle" exercise is actually also controversial. Previous tests by the U.S. military have shown that the complexity of fully ensuring the combat capability of advanced fighter jets at remote airports is far beyond the U.S. military's expectations.