News United States Air Force
 Agile Flag 22-2: The road to certificationPublished Aug. 15, 2022
                        
                        
                        Air Combat Command Public Affairs
                **JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. (AFNS) --**
                Agile Flag 22-2 recently concluded, marking the first time **Air Combat Command** tested a **Lead Wing**’s ability to conduct agile combat employment operations in a flag-level contributing certifying exercise.
Agile Flag is the latest U.S. Air Force investment in capabilities that enables Lead Wings to operate at the speed, scope, complexity, and scale needed in a modern-day threat environment. The exercise focuses on increasing survivability and combat lethality through dispersion, flexibility, resiliency, agility, and mission command.
The **23rd Wing** combined its own precision attack and personnel recovery mission with **Shaw Air Force Base**, Georgia’s **F-16C Fighting Falcons**, as well as contingency response, airlift, tactical air control, special operations and other capabilities from various wings in order to execute agile operations throughout the exercise.
“The Flying Tigers have been training the last 18 months to be ready to deliver combat power as a Lead Wing anytime, anywhere. Agile Flag pitted our new capabilities of command and control and agile combat support against a smart, simulated enemy who attempted to disrupt and destroy our capability to generate combat power,” said **Col. Russell Cook**, 23rd Wing commander. “Air Combat Command could not have picked a better team of Airmen than the Flying Tigers to lead the way in rapid deployment of agile combat power - Tigers Lead!”

Photo of 822nd Base Defense Squadron Fire Team Member.Airman 1st Class Teanna Roundtree, 822nd Base Defense Squadron fire team member, takes a defensive position around a C-130 at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., July 22, 2022, as part of Air Combat Command's Agile Flag 22-2. The exercise tested the Moody Air Force Base, Ga.’s 23rd Wing's ability to deploy into theater as a Lead Wing. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Lionel Castellano)
            
            
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    Two pararescuemen walk away from an HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter after a rainstorm.Airmen prepare to board an HH-60W Jolly Green II during exercise Agile Flag 22-2 at Avon Park, Fla., July 23, 2022. Agile Flag 22-2 is Air Combat Command's first lead-wing certification event designed to demonstrate the 23rd Wing's capability to generate combat air power while continuing to move, maneuver, and sustain the wing and subordinate force elements in a dynamic and contested environment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Deanna Muir)
            
            
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    Photo of F-16 Fighting Falcons from Shaw Air Force BaseThree F-16 Fighting Falcons from Shaw Air Force Base, Ga., await their turn for integrated combat turns during Air Combat Command’s Agile Flag 22-2 exercise at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., July 25, 2022. Participating units traveled from Moody AFB, Shaw AFB, S.C., Dyess AFB, Texas, Hurlburt AFB, Fla., MacDill AFB, Fla., Travis AFB, Calif., and Robbins AFB, Ga. to the Air Dominance Center in Savannah, Ga., and other regional locations for the duration of the exercise. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Lionel Castellano)
            
            
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To replicate a realistic threat picture for the Lead Wing, exercise players simulated physical oppositional forces as well as a synthetic intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability. While the Lead Wing worked to deploy quickly into and out of a dynamic combat environment as an agile force package, a **15th Air Force** certification team assessed how the wing conducted their mission essential tasks throughout degraded environments.
"This was the first Agile Flag of this magnitude, where we have combined command and control elements, air base squadron elements and mission generation force elements as a single force package,” said Lt. Col. Patrick O'Keefe, chief of 15th AF's certification team and Operation Division. "The 23rd Wing, along with other Air Force units, helped to make this Agile Flag a success. This is a great starting point that we will replicate and build upon for future iterations."
The conclusion of the exercise provided ACC and 15th AF with valuable data to continue refining Lead Wing mission essential tasks in preparation for the next iteration of Agile Flag in early 2023.
Future iterations of Agile Flag will remain a key contributing event toward certifying ACC’s Lead Wings to be ready and resilient forces as the command progresses towards initial operating capability for the **Combat Air Force Force Generation** cycle in fall 2022.
“Agile Flag 22-2 highlights how Air Combat Command has come a long way in standardizing the way we organize, train, and equip our forces for agile combat employment against peer adversaries,” said Col. Scott Johnson, ACC’s Future Operations Division chief. “Our goal is to prepare Airmen to be ready for a battlespace that is vastly different from what they’ve experienced over the past 20 years of conflict."LR 



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