HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- The 31st Air Task Force recently supported Exercise Bamboo Eagle during its second 200-level training event as it successfully evaluated sustainment, airbase recovery, and medical training tasks over the course of Silver Flag and Virtual Flag exercises, Feb. 8-20, 2026. The ATF also tested and refined innovative command and control, employed a 24-hour wing operations center (WOC), established air domain awareness, and integrated counter-small unmanned aerial system capabilities between geographically separated elements.
Building on experience from a field training exercise in December, 31 ATF established an expeditionary WOC at Hurlburt Field supporting a Virtual Flag event. Meanwhile, the 31st Combat Air Base Squadron, acting as a forward deployed element, established a tactical operations center (TOC) at the Silver Flag exercise site on Tyndall Air Force Base, almost 100 miles away. The WOC-TOC separation, a first for Silver Flag, allowed 31 ATF to strengthen communication, establish a common operational picture, and establish a C2 ‘single pane of glass’ for the headquarters.
“We are establishing our standard for operational C2, building battlespace situational understanding of the environment, in order to speed decisions,” said 31 ATF commander Col. Brad Dvorak. “We are exercising future force employment concepts now, ensuring the 31st Air Task Force, as an Air Force Unit of Action, drives a decisive competitive advantage for the joint force.”
That competitive advantage was put to the test as 31 ATF integrated into Bamboo Eagle 26-1, an exercise which presents participants with opportunities to overcome challenges associated with mission generation and command and control in a contested environment. Scenarios for 31 ATF, generated across constructive virtual environments by the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center, allowed 31 ATF and 31 CABS to conduct proactive and reactive schemes of maneuver to increase survivability and ensure air superiority. The virtual integration included real-world injects which facilitated 31 CABS base recovery and rapid airfield damage repair, the outcome of which impacted events in the virtual environment.
Throughout the exercise, 31 ATF employed distributed collaborative programs across manifold network solutions to maintain a shared operating picture between the TOC, the WOC, other operational C2 command nodes, and the USAFWC. Semi-automated decision support layers fused multiple data sources—flying operations, airfield status, cargo movements, health of forces—into a common, continuously updated view of the battlespace. This setup enabled geographically separated teams to plan, brief, and adjust operations inside a synchronized single pane of glass dashboard, while training to multiple redundant pathways to achieve mission success.
“The capabilities tested by the ATF provide all of the visualization and computing processes units would have in a hardened area operations center, but at the fingertips of a commander in the field,” said 31 ATF’s director of current operations. “This provides an abundance of situational awareness, often eliminates the need for reach-back, and brings the benefit forward to the warfighter on the front line.”
The ATF also used the exercise period to train on counter-sUAS capabilities critical to expeditionary force protection and airspace management. Specialists from Air Force Research Laboratory and premier industry partners trained 31 CABS Airmen to set-up transportable aerial detection systems at the Silver Flag exercise site, providing organic identify-and-track coverage with minimal logistical burden. This training, which focused on rapidly deployable systems that have passive detection abilities and function without active emissions, provided critical feedback to refine and optimize for the future of 31 ATF and the Air Force.
“By field-testing these systems now, the ATF is demonstrating how an expeditionary headquarters can integrate multiple counter-sUAS systems and apply defensive effects when required,” said 31 ATF’s force protection division chief. “Each of the tools we tested fills an aspect of the airspace picture, allows better understanding of options for defense against hostile sUAS, and effective allocation of capabilities.”
Throughout the exercise, the 31st Air Task Force proved concepts of sustainable mission-centric command, distributed control and decentralized execution, and dynamic battle management of fielded forces. Realistic, threat-focused rehearsals like this integration with Bamboo Eagle ensure 31 ATF and 31 CABS are ready to deter potential adversaries and sustain combat air operations.
The 31st Air Task Force continues evolving to meet updated national priorities and efficiently use Air Force talent and resources.
The 31st Air Task Force is an O-6 wing headquarters consisting of a command and control element, supporting a combat air base squadron with up to 2,500 Airmen capable of providing base operating support and sustaining up to three mission generation force elements required to execute agile combat employment at any deployed location.