SPRINGFIELD-BECKLEY AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Ohio - Airmen from the Ohio Air National Guard’s 178th Wing, collaborating with the New York and Mississippi Air National Guard, showcased Agile Combat Employment during Exercise Advanced Wrath March 9-21.
Participating Guard units supported forward combat operations, providing lethal capability and integration with joint and interagency forces for future operations.
The centerpiece of Advanced Wrath was the MQ-9 Reaper, which traveled to Springfield-Beckley Air National Guard Base for the second consecutive year. Over the two-week exercise, the MQ-9 executed missions to validate the 178th Wing’s readiness to support national defense objectives and postured the base as a future hub for persistent MQ-9 operations.
The aircraft successfully loaded and employed two GBU-12 inert munitions precision strike capabilities, reinforcing the wing’s combat mission set. This capability expands the lethality of the 178th Wing and highlights its ability to provide support in contested environments.
According to 1st Lt. Benjamin Retherford, project officer for Advanced Wrath, the successful weapons employment was a critical step in posturing Springfield as a combat-capable location for MQ-9 operations.
The exercise centered on cross-platform coordination, integrating assets from U.S. Special Operations Command, the U.S. Coast Guard 9th District Command, Air Force Research Laboratory, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Riverside Research and the Federal Aviation Administration, alongside Ohio’s MQ-9 and UAS capabilities.
The New York Air National Guard’s 174th Attack Wing and the Mississippi Air National Guard brought additional expertise to the exercise.
USSOCOM received direct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support from the MQ-9 Reaper, enhancing special operations forces’ targeting and intelligence collection while enabling verification for joint terminal attack controller qualifications.
The focus on ISR and precision targeting for USSOCOM emphasized the MQ-9’s role in advanced warfighting integration, validating the readiness of units to support deployed areas of responsibility.
At the same time, the 178th Wing partnered with the U.S. Coast Guard’s 9th District Command, based in Cleveland, Ohio, for joint search and rescue and personnel recovery training over Lake Erie.
The MQ-9 demonstrated its ability to locate and track military and civilian vessels and personnel in distress.
“This exercise showed how the MQ-9 can seamlessly integrate with cross-department organizations to enhance maritime domain awareness and provide overwatch for SAR operations,” Retherford said.
Another focus of Advanced Wrath was supporting research, development and testing with AFRL’s SkyVision Ground-Based Detect and Avoid system. This partnership enabled the MQ-9 to conduct beyond visual line of sight operations in the National Airspace System without a chase aircraft.
The FAA’s Springfield office worked with the wing to validate new FAA “file and fly” procedures, paving the way for future MQ-9 flights under routine NAS operations.
The collaboration between AFRL, FAA and the 178th Wing demonstrated Springfield’s growing role as a hub for research, development and testing of cutting-edge unmanned systems and aviation technologies.
Simultaneously, NGA and Riverside Research conducted counter-unmanned aerial system testing, using the MQ-9’s ISR capabilities to track and characterize UAV targets launched by AFRL and the Ohio Department of Transportation’s UAS Center. This testing advanced the understanding of target characterization and refined the MQ-9’s ability to contribute to national counter-UAS missions, supporting state and national agency research and development initiatives.
Exercise Advanced Wrath was also a proving ground for Agile Combat Employment concepts. The 178th Wing demonstrated its ability to rapidly generate, employ and sustain MQ-9 operations from Springfield-Beckley ANGB with a small, agile footprint, increasing survivability and reducing reliance on traditional fixed basing.
Lt. Col. Zachary Eaton, 178th Operations Support Squadron commander, highlighted the strategic advantages of Springfield’s proximity to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where AFRL and Lifecycle Management Center personnel can support unmanned system testing and development.
“We are posturing Springfield as an ACE hub for unmanned operations,” Eaton said. “We’ve proven we can launch, recover and employ MQ-9s from an austere location with minimal footprint, while still delivering lethal effects and high-end ISR.”
The exercise demonstrated lethality and flexibility to support disaster response in Ohio and the Great Lakes region and regional support of FEMA and future exercises.
“We are ready for the next step,” Retherford said. “Bringing the MQ-9 to Springfield isn’t just about the platform — it’s about delivering lethal capability where and when the nation needs it.”