In addition to tonight's mass migration of cargo haulers, the Nellis Test and Training Range has been very active over the last week or so as the Weapons School, which services all types of combat aircraft and their communities, enters into the final phase of its curriculum . The full gamut of surveillance aircraft, from RQ-4 Global Hawks to RC-135 Rivet Joints, have been tracked flying orbits around the range complex as the Weapons Instructors put their carefully evaluated war plans into motion.

Beyond being fantastic training for all involved, the exercise works as part of the capstone project for the graduating class of the U.S. Air Force's prestigious Weapons School. The soon to be minted Weapons Instructors (also called 'Target Arms' in some flying communities) put all their new and old knowledge to the test to successfully orchestrate what is among the most complex aerial combat ballets on the planet. You can read all about this exercise and how it fits into the Weapon's School's larger aims in this past article of ours .

JFEX has become far more relevant in recent years as the U.S. has started to come to terms with the reality that winning an expeditionary fight against a peer state competitor is an increasingly dubious challenge. Anti-access and area-denial strategies have left the services scrambling to adapt to having to fight an enemy over long distances and breaking open new avenues into their increasingly expansive and fortified domain. Being able to use the Pentagon's potent but limited airlift capacity to rapidly open up new bases of operation and vectors of attack even at very austere and remote locales in becoming a key tenet of future combat operations. This is exactly what JFEX is all about, punching into contested territory over long distances by surprise and setting up a foothold for expanded operations.

So if you look up in the sky tonight and see a long string of blinking lights, no it's not Santa on a dry run, it's your U.S. Air Force practicing to make good on its own naughty or nice list.

We will keep you update as more information and photos from this iteration of JFEX emerge.

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com