U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Isaiah Eyeland of the 90th Fighter Generation Squadron salutes an F-22 Raptor pilot June 3, 2025, in Alaska during preparations for Exercise Resolute Force Pacific. (Tala Hunt/U.S. Air Force)
The U.S. Air Force will begin its largest joint multinational exercise in the western Pacific next week to stress-test its maneuver concept for modern warfare.
Resolute Force Pacific starts Thursday, Pacific Air Forces spokesman Capt. Gerald Peden said by phone Wednesday from Hawaii.
Approximately 3,100 Japanese troops and 50 aircraft will join the exercise, scheduled to run through Aug. 4, according to a Japan Air Self-Defense Force news release Monday.
About 2,000 U.S. service personnel are expected to participate, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said in a May 2 letter to airmen. Another 350 aircraft are expected to take part, according to an unsigned email Thursday from Pacific Air Forces.
The exercise will stress test the concept of agile combat employment, logistics under fire and the ability to generate combat power from multiple locations, according to a Pacific Air Forces news release March 5. The aim of Resolute Force Pacific is to ensure U.S. forces can operate effectively in a real-world fight, according to the release.
Agile combat employment is the Air Force doctrine that calls for operations to shift from centralized air hubs to a network of smaller, dispersed sites or base clusters.
“The days of operating from secure, fixed bases are over,” Pacific Air Forces commander Gen. Kevin Schneider said March 4 during the Air & Space Force Association’s Warfare Symposium, according to the Pacific Air Forces release. “The Indo-Pacific’s vast distances and evolving threats demand a flexible, resilient force that can operate from multiple, dispersed locations under contested conditions.”
Resolute Force Pacific will include U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Pacific Air Forces, Marine Forces Pacific, Pacific Fleet, Air Force Special Operations Command, Air Mobility Command, Air Education and Training Command and U.S. Space Force elements, according to Pacific Air Forces’ email.
Air Mobility Command’s Mobility Guardian exercise, Special Operations Command’s Emerald Warrior, Resolute Space and Bamboo Eagle 25-3 will be incorporated into the larger exercise, the email states.
Details about specific aircraft will be released during the exercise, according to the email. But the exercise is expected to include fifth-generation fighters, command and control aircraft and airlift and air refueling aircraft, Pacific Air Forces deputy commander Lt. Gen. Laura Lenderman said during at the AFCEA TechNet Indo-Pacific conference in Honolulu on Oct. 23
The exercise will take place in approximately 25 locations, Lenderman said.
Japan’s forces will train in air defense combat, fighter deployment, airfield repair, aeromedical evacuation at its own bases and U.S. bases around Japan, according to the Air Self-Defense Force release.
Pacific Air Forces declined to identify other nations participating in the exercise. Schneider in the March 5 release said the exercise is proof of increased cooperation with Australia, South Korea and the Philippines.
The exercise is not meant as a response to “any current events, conflicts or countries,” Pacific Air Forces’ email states.
However, Lenderman cited North Korea’s ballistic and cruise missile arsenals, Russia’s long-range bomber missions, and the growth of China’s military and its aggressive actions in the Indo-Pacific as among the “complex challenges that we face in the Indo-Pacific theater.”
Stars and Stripes reporter Keishi Koja contributed to this report.
