- The U.S. Air Force completed Exercise Virtual Flag: Coalition 26-1 at Kirtland Air Force Base, integrating U.S. and allied forces in a distributed, multi-domain training environment.
- The exercise tested coalition command and control across air, land, maritime, space, and cyber domains in a simulated high-end Indo-Pacific conflict.
The United States Air Force confirmed the completion of Exercise Virtual Flag: Coalition 26-1, a large-scale multinational distributed battle management exercise hosted by the 705th Combat Training Squadron at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, integrating U.S. and allied forces in a simulated high-end Indo-Pacific conflict.
According to the U.S. Air Force, the exercise brought together U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, and the Utah Army National Guard alongside international partners from the Royal Air Force, U.K. Space Command, Royal Australian Air Force, Australian Army, Royal Canadian Air Force, and Royal Canadian Navy. The event focused on joint and coalition command and control across air, land, maritime, space, and cyber domains.
The exercise was conducted through the Distributed Mission Operations Center, using a combination of live, virtual, and constructive training environments. Forces operated from simulators and command-and-control nodes across the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, connected through multiple networks to execute combat-representative scenarios against a peer adversary.
“The U.S. Air Force has embraced mission command concepts like agile combat employment and decentralized execution because we have learned from experience that centralized C2 won’t work against a peer adversary,” said Lt. Col. David Jones, commander of the 705th Combat Training Squadron. “VFC offers a great training opportunity to refine operational concepts and tactics with Air Force, joint, and coalition partners so we’re ready to fight together if deterrence fails.”
Exercise planners said a core objective of VFC 26-1 was testing distributed command-and-control systems under contested conditions, including degraded communications and incomplete intelligence. The scenarios required multinational forces to make rapid decisions while coordinating across different national procedures and technical systems.
Lt. Col. Abdullateef, director of operations for the squadron, said coalition integration was central to the exercise. “The core of VFC is about learning how to fight and win as a coalition. This exercise provides a controlled environment to experiment, identify each other’s strengths, and improve our ability to operate together seamlessly under pressure,” he said.
A notable element of VFC 26-1 was the integration of the U.S. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, which added strategic-level decision-making to the exercise. Air Force officials said the inclusion allowed participants to train on integrating nuclear-related considerations into broader joint and coalition operations without shifting the exercise away from its conventional focus.
Marine Corps participation added a ground component to the primarily air-focused exercise. U.S. Marine Corps personnel worked alongside air and space operators to practice cross-domain coordination, emphasizing decentralized execution and joint mission planning.
“Integrating Marine Corps capabilities into a primarily air-based exercise pushed us to think about mission command in a more integrated way,” said Maj. Rikki Antaramian-Feightner, exercise director for VFC 26-1. “It’s about understanding how every unit, ground, air, and space, can contribute to mission success.”
Canadian participants highlighted the exercise’s impact on coalition readiness. Capt. Brian Boyce of the Royal Canadian Air Force said the exercise improved multinational command-and-control processes and interoperability across all domains.
In total, approximately 310 joint and coalition personnel completed about 7,000 training tasks for 31 units, using seven networks and 27 systems across 16 distributed locations, according to the U.S. Air Force.
Senior leaders from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom attended a distinguished visitor day hosted by the Distributed Mission Operations Center, where they observed coalition forces conducting integrated operations in the synthetic battlespace and discussed future developments, including the use of artificial intelligence tools to support command-and-control decision-making.