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Light and Lean: ACE Maneuver Unit Footprint Reduction

  • Published
  • By Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Operational Energy (SAF/IEN)

Explore the impact of reducing the overall deployment footprint of operational units during ACE operations.  Conduct analysis to determine the right size fuel, energy, sustainment and supply chain requirements for various ACE operational units at both “hub and spoke” locations.  Conduct market research with industry and DoD to determine functional areas to prioritize in order to achieve the largest operational impact.  

  • Acker, Maj. Joseph M., "Not Going Alone: Air Combat Employment (ACE) as a Joint Mission," GCPME thesis, 2022, 39 pgs.
  • Allen, LtCol Zachary S., "Invisible to the Drone's Eye: Leveraging New Concepts and Technology to Safeguard Marine Aviation against the Unmanned Threat," AFGC thesis, 2026. 40 pgs. 
    • Allen highlights that distributed concepts like ACE, DAO, and Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) face glaring logistical challenges. To sustain aviation forces in a distributed footprint without relying on centralized hubs, he recommends a "sustainment web" that heavily relies on pre-positioned supplies, integration with Special Operations Forces (SOF), and autonomous resupply platforms. Furthermore, he argues that the military must overhaul rigid, calendar-based maintenance cycles (like the Naval Aviation Maintenance Program) to break the tether that keeps aircraft tied to established, vulnerable maintenance base.
  • Barnes, Maj. Geoffrey T., "Airpower as a Cottage Industry: Exploring Sortie Generation Capacity from Dispersed Bases," GCPME thesis, 2024, 54 pgs.
  • Bendokas, Maj. Jehon N., "OA-1K SKYRAIDER II: How AFSOF Airpower Will Redefine the Strategic Environment," AFGC thesis, 2025, 32 pgs. 
    • Bendokas outlines a Concept of Employment for the OA-1K that heavily relies on austere, forward operating bases (FOBs) and primitive, unimproved runways. To reduce the logistical footprint, he recommends deploying single aircraft with minimal crews who are capable of operating without traditional maintenance support. He tasks AFSOC with identifying new procedures and waivers that allow aircrew to refuel, reload munitions, and perform maintenance functions themselves in austere environments.
  • Brim, Maj. Walter A., "Civilian Contract Field Services Representatives in ACE: A Comparative Risk Assessment," AFGC thesis, 2024, 36 pgs. 
  • Chhen, Maj. Dalin, "Optimizing Airlift: Sustaining Agile Combat Employment Airfields in USINDOPACOM," GCPME thesis, 2024, 34 pgs. 
  • Kroll, Maj. Steven J., "A Novel Solution to Power Generation on Austere Air Bases," AF Global College thesis, 2024, 54 pgs. 
  • O'Connor, Maj. Jesse D., "Great Power Competition Demands Great Power Production: Bolstering DAF Energy Security for the Age of Electronic Warfare," AFGC thesis, 2025.
    • Explore the impact of reducing the overall deployment footprint of operational units during ACE operations. Conduct analysis to determine the right size fuel, energy, sustainment and supply chain requirements for various ACE operational units at both “hub and spoke” locations. O'Connor answers this by proposing SMRs as a transformative solution to the massive logistical footprint required to sustain energy at remote "spoke" locations in the Indo-Pacific during Agile Combat Employment (ACE). He points out that traditional contingency power plants require continuous and expensive diesel fuel resupply, which strains vulnerable supply chains and forces base power to compete directly with aviation fuel needed for combat sorties. By deploying SMRs—which can weigh as little as 2,000 pounds, be easily airlifted, and run for decades without refueling—the DAF can drastically reduce its sustainment and supply chain requirements. O'Connor concludes that adopting this technology ensures continuous reliable power for remote ACE bases, minimizes the deployment footprint, and frees up critical logistical capacity to transport food, munitions, and aviation fuel during a peer conflict.
  • Smith, Maj. Ian A., "ACE with Spades: Air Force Civil Engineers and the Challenges of Enabling Agile Combat Employment," AF Global
    College thesis, 2024, 58 pgs.