Epic Fury: Lessons Learned

Assess lessons learned from Op EPIC FURY to identify high-priority, high-return opportunities to enshrine the ad-hoc tactical C2 integration air and missile defense efforts into Air Force and Joint systems. As AY26 papers, these are in the SPR process but may be requested from OSP for internal DoW readers.

• "2026 sUAS for Dispersed Agile Air Defense" 
  • This paper explicitly connects the lessons of Operation Epic Fury to the urgent need for tactical air defense integration, citing the "catastrophic loss of Airmen and assets" during the campaign against Iran as a primary catalyst for immediate change. It answers your query by recommending that the Department of the Air Force (DAF) shift away from relying solely on the Army for point defense and instead develop organic, decentralized command and control (C2) frameworks tailored for Counter-small Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-sUAS). To enshrine these ad-hoc efforts into Joint systems, the paper identifies high-return opportunities such as lowering the delegation of engagement authorities, redefining defense zones, and standardizing tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to create a cost-effective, multi-layered, and mobile defense architecture at the tactical edge.
• Gronemeyer et al, SOS AUAR 2026 "Decentralize To Dominate: Empowering The Tactical Edge Through CRC-JAGIC Fusion"
  • Although this paper draws its primary lessons from the war in Ukraine rather than Epic Fury, it provides a highly specific blueprint for how to enshrine tactical C2 integration into Air Force and Joint air defense systems. It argues that the current communication "seam" between the Air Force's Control and Reporting Center (CRC) and the Army's Joint Air-Ground Integration Center (JAGIC) relies on centralized planning that is too slow and fragile to counter saturation missile and drone attacks. To fix this, the authors identify high-priority opportunities to empower the tactical edge: pre-delegating Airspace Control Authority (ACA) responsibilities to forward C2 nodes, dynamically establishing Joint Engagement Zones, and building a resilient technical architecture centered on a shared JREAP-C/Link 16 data feed to enable decentralized execution at the speed of relevance.
• Katai et al ACSC 2026 BASECAMP Force Protection in a Contested Homeland" 
  • Answers the prompt by examining the deployment of specialized, ad-hoc Counter-small UAS (C-sUAS) Fly-Away Kits (FAKs) to detect and defeat drones during the initial hours of Operation Epic Fury. While these modular kits were tactically successful, the paper highlights that their deployment was inherently reactive and severely constrained by fragmented interagency authorities and a lack of pre-authorized defensive postures. To enshrine these ad-hoc successes into enduring Joint systems, the authors argue that the Department of Defense must abandon its cumbersome installation-by-installation approval process and implement blanket 10 U.S.C. § 130i legal coverage for all military installations and deployment routes. By formally integrating expanded C-UAS authorities directly into standard defensive postures and problem-centric Joint Interagency Task Forces (JIATFs), tactical commanders will be empowered to proactively defeat drone threats across the homeland without administrative delays.

• Lander AWC 2026 "Operation Epic Fury and The Future of Iran’s Proxy Diplomacy" 

  • While focusing on broader strategic impacts rather than technical C2 integration, this paper directly assesses the operational and geopolitical outcomes of Operation Epic Fury. It explains how the operation functioned as a paradigm shift that upended Iran's "forward defense strategy" through direct military action aimed at destroying Iran's ballistic missiles, launchers, and production capacity. By evaluating the regime's initial degradation and the subsequent responses from the Axis of Resistance, the paper provides the critical strategic context and threat assessment of the adversary's missile network that necessitates the Joint Force's prioritization of integrated air and missile defense.

• Rodrigues ACSC 2026 PACAF "From Parts to Sorties" 

  • Addresses the prompt by analyzing the logistical friction of Operation Epic Fury to highlight the critical need for integrating real-time sustainment data into tactical and operational C2. The paper notes that Epic Fury provided vital real-world insight into the failure rates, transportation timelines, and supply chain bottlenecks that occur under the stress of high-tempo combat. To prevent ad-hoc logistics coordination from causing mission failure during air and missile defense operations, Rodrigues argues that the Air Force must formalize a Logistics Command and Control (LOGC2) framework embedded directly within the Air Operations Center (AOC). Enshrining war-focused supply data systems that actively translate sustainment factors into sortie-generation feasibility will ensure that operational commanders do not build air defense or strike plans that outpace their actual logistical capacity.

• Trask AWC 2026 "Contesting the Air Littoral: Enhancing the US Army and Air Force Integration in the Era of Proliferating Unmanned Systems"

  • Addressing the core mechanisms of tactical C2 integration for air and missile defense, this paper focuses on closing the doctrinal and operational gaps between Air Force and Army airspace management. The paper identifies high-return opportunities to improve Joint operations by evolving the Joint Air-Ground Integration Center (JAGIC) and airspace control measures (ACMs) to handle saturated, low-altitude threats that cross traditional domain boundaries. To enshrine these capabilities, Trask recommends implementing AI-assisted planning to shorten the Air Tasking Order cycle to 12 hours for littoral missions, establishing "immediate littoral engagement windows" at the brigade level to bypass individual clearance requests, and creating merged control corridors to synchronize cross-domain fires seamlessly.

• Womack ACSC 2026 "Five Stages of American Airpower" 

  • Answers the question by evaluating the tactical realities of Operation Epic Fury, particularly the rapid depletion of exquisite interceptors (like THAAD, PAC-3 MSE, and SM-6) and the successful ad-hoc integration of non-kinetic cyber/space effects alongside low-cost attritable LUCAS drones to suppress enemy defenses. To enshrine these multi-domain tactical successes into Joint systems, Womack argues that the Air Force must fundamentally redesign its vulnerable, highly centralized Air Operations Center (AOC) and transition to a true distributed command structure. By decentralizing C2 through mission-type orders and pushing authorities to lower echelons, the Joint Force can systematically integrate non-kinetic effects with attritable mass at the tactical edge, preserving expensive interceptors and ensuring that air and missile defense operations can continue even if centralized C2 nodes are compromised.