KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --
"Bamboo Eagle 25-3 demonstrated that mission command is not theory but a warfighting imperative built through realistic training, integration, and adaptability. Lessons from BE 25-3 will make the joint force more lethal, agile, and resilient, ready to deter and, if required, defeat any adversary."
Col. Ryan Hayde, 505th Command and Control Wing commander
Bamboo Eagle 25-3 pushed the boundaries of 21st-century mission command, leveraging the Distributed Mission Operations Center, or DMOC, to forge agile, resilient leaders. In a synthetic battlespace, the joint force rehearsed decentralized execution and empowered decision-making to achieve decision advantage, July 22 – Aug. 8.
Hosted by the 705th Combat Training Squadron at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., the DMOC's live, virtual, and constructive, or LVC, training environment provides a high-fidelity proving ground where commanders and battle managers can practice decision-making in contested, degraded, and operationally complex environments without risk to life or assets.
“The DMOC enables mission command by offering a safe, synthetic mission set where the BMC2 [battle management command and control] community can execute commander’s intent without real-world risk,” said Maj. David Blessman, BE 25-3 DMOC exercise director. “This is where we integrate at scale with the joint force to sharpen deterrence and ensure we’re ready to fight and win, if called.”
Joint Force Integration
BE 25-3 exercised multi-service integration across Air, Space, Naval, Marine, Army, Guard, and Reserve components, demonstrating seamless joint operations in a simulated contested theater.
Within the DMOC’s battlespace, Sailors from 3rd Fleet, Marines from Marine Corps Air Support Squadron 3 from Camp Pendleton and Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, and Marines from the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, integrated agile expeditionary operations. Soldiers from the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command contributed Army air defense assets, further enhancing joint integration.
The Air Force brought in MQ-9 pilots and sensor operators from Holloman and Creech AFBs, and Guardians from the Space Force at Schriever SFB. The 728th Battle Management Control Squadron at Robins AFB, operated as the Battle Control Center. Airmen from Tyndall, Whiteman, Ellsworth, Joint Base San Antonio, and Creech manned the Red and White Force, joined by personnel from the Air National Guard and the Marine Corps.
The exercise featured a live Air Expeditionary Wing led by the Air Force Reserve’s 349th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB, supported by White Force Airmen from Nellis AFB’s 805th Combat Training Squadron, as part of their 200-level training under the Air Force’s Force Generation, or AFFORGEN, model.
Airborne distributed elements also contributed. E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System, or AWACS, crews at Tinker AFB provided real-time battle management and surveillance, while RC-135 reconnaissance crews at Offutt AFB conducted intelligence-gathering and electronic reconnaissance, both executing vital mission sets in the virtual environment.
“Warfighters integrated into the DMOC’s LVC environment, directly shaping scenario development, execution, and assessment,” said Lt. Col. David Jones, 705th CTS/DMOC commander. “Their presence helped drive realism, cultural fluency, and collaborative planning in the LVC environment. This level of integration enabled dynamic, decentralized execution, core to mission command, across the full scope of BE 25-3 operations.”
Mission Command: Practiced, Not Prescribed
As future conflicts grow more contested and less predictable, mission command becomes the cornerstone of agile and resilient operations. BE 25-3 prepared warfighters to think and act at the edge of uncertainty.
“The DMOC allows C2 operators to practice mission command in action, not just reference it in doctrine,” said Lt. Col. Sajjad Abdullateef, 705th CTS director of operations. “Through realistic, complex, and contested scenarios, commanders and subordinates stress their ability to anticipate, adapt, and take initiative in high-fidelity, consequence-rich environments.”
In these scenarios, teams build the mental agility and trust required to succeed when communication is degraded and conditions are unclear.
LVC as a Catalyst for Competence and Trust
“LVC reps and sets at the DMOC don’t just train warfighters what to do, they condition judgment, initiative, and decision-making under stress,” said Abdullateef. “They allow individuals and units to fail safely, learn quickly, and build the competence and trust needed to operate in complex environments.”
Scenarios simulate the cognitive stress of combat, such as rapid information flow and time pressure to adapt to rapidly evolving threats, while maintaining operational tempo in a high-threat battlespace. By working alongside the joint force, Air Force commanders and battle managers develop common operating picture and build the trust necessary for decentralized execution.
“LVC training fosters trust through deliberate design, requiring participants to work across services to balance competing priorities, manage limited resources, and respond to real-time threats,” said Abdullateef. “Units are given space to fail and grow together. A strike package might rely on ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] from one unit, refueling support from another service, and cyber effects, all demanding a unique level of trust and alignment.”
By weaving together joint, multi-domain capabilities in a shared operational scenario, BE 25-3 helped build trust not just within units but across the services.
Centralized Command, Distributed Control, Decentralized Execution
The modern battlespace, as replicated in DLEs like BE, increasingly demands seamless coordination not just across U.S. military services, but with our partner nations as well, in the air, land, sea, space, and cyber domains. Centralized decision-making can significantly hinder this complex interplay.
“The DMOC’s BE 25-3 LVC scenario enabled delegation of authority to lower-level commanders, with a deep understanding of their domain’s nuances,” said Col. Terry Hjerpe, 505th Combat Training Group commander, Nellis AFB, Nev. “This delegation empowers faster, more informed decisions, optimizes joint operations, and ensures the interoperability crucial for DLE success.”
Building Trust and Cohesion
“The DMOC helps build that cohesion through time-compressed scenarios that demand tight coordination, ensuring execution of mission objectives in contested theaters,” said Abdullateef. “It replicates the relationships and shared understanding that make warfighting possible across domains.”
Exercises like BE 25-3 show that trust and cohesion are not just abstract ideals. They are operational necessities, built through training and vital to winning future conflicts.
Simulating Strategic Friction Without Operational Fallout
“The LVC environment is uniquely designed to simulate the fog and uncertainty of real combat,” said Abdullateef. “It allows realistic simulation of cyber-attacks, EW [electronic warfare] jamming, spoofing, degraded GPS, and contested C2 nodes, which are hard or impossible to replicate in live-fly events.”
Staff Sgt. Erica Zalunardo, 705th CTS BE 25-3 DMOC non-commissioned officer-in-charge noted that one of the most important takeaways from BE 25-3 is the experience of large-scale decision-making, pushing participants to navigate operational dilemmas, reinforcing the DLE’s commitment of preparing the joint force for future conflicts.
“Participants must consider not only their immediate area of responsibility, but also the downstream consequences of their actions,” she said. “Live players were directly impacted by decisions made in the synthetic environment; that’s hard to replicate in smaller internal exercises.”
Adapting and Improving for Future Warfighting
Abdullateef said the next step in mission command training is integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning to challenge operators in new ways.
“Tools like AI and joint LVC modernization efforts will let us simulate adaptive adversaries and real-time friction, asserting our teams to act on commander’s intent,” he said. “The future fight will be fast, contested, and unpredictable; LVC modernization ensures we are ready for any challenge.”
“Bamboo Eagle 25-3 demonstrated that mission command is not theory but a warfighting imperative built through realistic training, integration, and adaptability,” said Col. Ryan Hayde, 505th Command and Control Wing commander, Hurlburt Field, Fla. “Lessons from BE 25-3 will make the joint force more lethal, agile, and resilient, ready to deter and, if required, defeat any adversary.”