Operation Agile Spartan (OAS), a regularly held multinational exercise, keeps the United States and its allies ready to confront adversaries throughout the Middle East.

OAS 24.1, the upcoming iteration, is set to continue a tradition of US Air Forces Central Command (AFCENT) and Middle East partner nation militaries jointly training for several months at a time in the Arabian Peninsula.

It is meant to demonstrate interoperability, improve the forces' ability to respond to crises and advance security cooperation initiatives throughout the region.

In 2023, OAS took place twice.

OAS 23.2 occurred "throughout the US Central Command [CENTCOM] area of responsibility [AOR]," according to a US military statement last August.

Each of AFCENT's five expeditionary wings took part in the exercise by launching and recovering aircraft at austere locations throughout the theater, the statement said.

The operation began August 14 and ended August 26.

OAS 23.1, which occurred in March in CENTCOM's AOR, saw the US Air Force continuing to strengthen its partnerships and capabilities at al-Dhafra air base.

Over the course of the exercise, US airmen and soldiers at the air base launched and recovered MQ-9 Reapers nine times at three different simulated cluster locations after successfully moving 36 tons of equipment to the austere locations and establishing necessary operating support functions.

"Our goal was to lay a foundation that is repeatable, sustainable and predictable for ADAB [al-Dhafra air base] to produce airpower," said US Air Force Sgt. John Whitfield, according to a US military statement last March.

ACE and its value

Agile Spartan drills home the concept of Agile Combat Employment (ACE), which increases the number of locations from where coalition air forces can generate combat missions rapidly.

The goal is to make airpower responsive, fast and elusive.

ACE means a proactive and reactive operational scheme of maneuver executed within threat timelines to increase survivability while generating combat power, in the eyes of the US Air Force.

Those priorities entail reducing time for the enemy to target airpower that is sitting on the ground between flights.

In the troubled Middle East, ACE is more crucial than ever. War requires simultaneously ensuring survivability and boosting combat power by operating both faster and closer to the enemy.

A way to achieve those goals, under the tenets of ACE, is to shift airpower generation from large, centralized bases to a network of smaller, dispersed ones.

That dispersion increases the US Air Force's ability to strike anywhere anytime.

"ACE ... complicates the enemy's targets," said US Air Force 2nd Lt. Regan Heppe, 14th Civil Engineering Squadron environmental program manager, in a US Air Force statement last November.

"We want to develop nearby 'warm' or active bases to be able to operate out of in case certain bases get hit or we strategically need to use them."

OAS has focused on ACE as early as 2021.

In September 2022, the US Air Force wrapped up OAS III, an extensive training exercise that saw participating units conduct rapid deployments in a region extending from Egypt to Kazakhstan.

OAS III was AFCENT's third ACE capstone event since 2021.

AFCENT personnel "are gaining combat experience every day," said Combined Forces air component commander Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, who flew an F-16 Fighting Falcon as part of OAS III, at the time.

"You cannot put a price tag on that kind of preparation," he added.