The sabre-rattling display from the world’s most powerful military sends a clear message to the world: the US is a force to be reckoned with. The drill took place in the south-west region of the US, in Nevada. The drill’s purpose was to rehearse a foreign invasion scenario.
A 21-strong wing of cargo-carrying C-17 and C-130 aircraft were detected flying in a “conga line”, aircraft tracking platforms have shown.
According to US automotive news website, The Drive: “The goal of the mission is to simulate prying open the enemy’s back door and setting up combat shop on their lawn as part of an annual drill called Joint Forcible Entry Exercise (JFEX).”
The so-called JFEX drill is designed to prepare service personnel for breaking into contested territory over long distances by surprise and establishing a foothold for expanded operations.
Aircraft tracking platforms such as CivMilAir and Aircraft Spots plotted the warplanes’ “conga line” movements as they careered across the Nevada skies on December 8.
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Aircraft from Air Mobility Command made up the bulk of the drill, according to The Drive.
At the same time last year, the US Air Force’s Air Mobility Command underwent a similar exercise with British, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian forces.
US Army Lieutenant Colonel Ricky Taylor said in a news release at the time: “Joint planning and collaboration between the staffs and the commands is imperative.”
During the drills last year, social media was flooded with videos of lights filling up the night sky as strings of C-17s and C-130s traversed the US on their way primarily to the Nellis Test and Training Range (NTTR) in desolate Southern Nevada.
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The exercise, which is one of the most complex military drills conducted by the US Armed Forces, is thought to have combined assets of all types, including fighters, surveillance aircraft, electronic warfare platforms, and throngs of ground troops and equipment that are dropped into or dropped off in simulated enemy territory.
On November 20 the US Air Force launched its first ‘Elephant Walk’ exercise with the $100million (£80million) F-35A Joint Strike Fighter jet, which the service uses to demonstrate its ability to sortie large numbers of planes and “defeat potential adversaries wherever they may arise”.
Major Caleb Guthmann, 34th Fighter Squadron assistant director of operations and exercise project officer, said in a statement at the time: “We are ready to fight tonight.
“And exercising with multiple squadrons of F-35s can demonstrate our ability to defeat potential adversaries wherever they may arise.”