Nearly 800 Air National Guard members from 10 units across the country are participating in Operation Maverick’s Armistice, a large-scale agile combat readiness exercise taking place Monday through Thursday at the Air Dominance Center in Savannah, Georgia, and airfields throughout the Sea of Antilles region.
Led by the 192nd Wing of the Virginia Air National Guard from Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton, Virginia, this marks the fourth iteration of the Operation Maverick’s Armistice training series. Participating units come from Virginia, Georgia, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the press release.
OMA is designed to test and validate critical warfighting capabilities needed to operate in contested environments. The exercise incorporates agile operations involving KC-135, KC-46 and C-130J aircraft supporting missions such as offensive and defensive counterair, maritime interdiction, and combat search and rescue. These missions will be supported and executed using F-22, F-35, P-8 and E-2D aircraft, while a ten-wing combined air staff maintains accountability and strategic control, the press release stated.
“This exercise will test each unit’s ability to identify problems, improvise, adapt and overcome,” said Lt. Col. Lawrence Dietrich, OMA exercise director. “We are delegating execution authorities and operational control down to the lowest levels in wartime units of action enabling rapid decision making striving for mission progress rather than stagnant forces waiting for direction.”
OMA continues to increase in complexity and scope with each iteration. For this exercise, forward pre-positioned logistic support and personnel have been reduced to zero. The concept is to demonstrate that Air National Guard units can deploy, execute combat operations, and withdraw without prior buildup, avoiding detection and maintaining a low signature in contested theaters, the release stated.
