CALIFORNIA -- During Exercise Steel Knight 25, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing executed Distributed Aviation Operations across the western United States, rehearsing how Marine aviation sustains combat power, maneuvers forces, and supports the Marine Air-Ground Task Force in a contested maritime environment, Dec. 1-13, 2025. To enable these operations, the wing employed a networked hub, spoke and node framework that allowed aviation units to operate from dispersed, expeditionary locations while remaining connected through resilient all-domain command and control. Steel Knight is an annual exercise that strengthens the Navy–Marine Corps team’s ability to respond forward, integrate across domains and sustain Marine Air-Ground Task Force readiness.
“What we are rehearsing here is the aviation fight of tomorrow,” said Maj. Gen. James Wellons, commanding general of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. “We are building the muscle memory to operate at distance, under threat, and with the joint force. Steel Knight is how we make sure 3rd MAW is ready on day one of a real conflict.”
During Steel Knight 25, 3rd MAW executed Distributed Aviation Operations by commanding, maneuvering and sustaining rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft from multiple dispersed locations. The wing employed an evolving hub-spoke-node framework to generate combat power at speed, displace rapidly and replicate the conditions expected in future maritime conflict.
“The requirement to distribute aviation forces fundamentally changes how we operate,” Wellons said. “We are no longer tied to a few large air stations. Through distributed aviation operations, we’re proving we can fight forward, relocate quickly and keep aircraft lethal from expeditionary sites across the battlespace.”
To support DAO execution, 3rd MAW positioned its primary hub at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, where centralized command, control and sustainment enabled aviation operations across the region. From the hub at Yuma, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 214, Marine Aircraft Group 13, projected F-35B Lightning II aircraft forward in support of distributed aviation operations.
“Distributed aviation operations are only effective if the hub can maintain tempo,” Wellons said. “We are tasking dozens of sorties a day while simultaneously moving fuel, ordnance, and Marines across multiple nodes. That ability to command, control, and sustain dispersed aircraft is what gives I Marine Expeditionary Force its reach and lethality.”
At Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Marine Aircraft Group 11 and 3rd MAW leaders established spokes, positioning decision-makers closer to the fight and improving the wing’s ability to synchronize aviation operations with ground forces. The spokes served as an intermediate layer between the hub and the expeditionary nodes, accelerating decision cycles and refining command and control under realistic timelines.
“The spoke allows us to push decision-making and sustainment forward while still maintaining connectivity to the hub,” said Col. Jarrod DeVore, commanding officer of Marine Aircraft Group 11, operating as the forward commander for the Camp Pendleton spoke. “That structure is essential when aviation units are dispersed and operating at speed in a maritime environment.”
From the spokes, Marine leaders, partnered with joint forces from the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy, coordinated flight missions for seven additional aircraft platforms from across MAG-11, MAG-16, and MAG-39. Together, these aviation units leveraged the hub and spokes to generate the logistics depth, communications architecture and command-and-control structure required to support missions reaching hundreds of miles beyond the coastline.
Alongside the aircraft mission planners, Marine Air Control Group 38 provided the logistics, communications, and air command and control required to keep these assets in the fight and connected through a deliberate network.
“This exercise reinforced that disaggregated command and control isn’t a vulnerability but rather a requirement for future fights,” said U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Vincent Galvan, operations officer of Marine Wing Support Squadron 372. “We can’t assume we’ll be co-located. Modern operations will require Marines and Sailors to operate across multiple locations, often with limited personnel and degraded communications.”
With more than 400 Marines and Sailors operating across six locations from San Diego to 29 Palms to Sacramento, 3rd MAW deliberately trained disaggregated command and control, empowering squadrons to execute independently while maintaining disciplined reporting to higher headquarters. This approach allowed individual elements to move fast and fight forward, while commanders synchronized effects and sustained tempo across a dispersed battlespace.
“Technology like Marine Air-Ground Tablets and modern C2 systems enhances how we fight, but we planned for the moment those tools fail,” Galvan said. “When communications degrade, execution can’t pause. Clear decision-support criteria and preplanned actions allowed Marines to continue executing and reporting without waiting for direction. That balance, distributed execution with disciplined reporting, was key to preserving tempo and keeping ‘support within striking distance.’”
The expeditionary nodes represented the most forward elements of 3rd MAW’s distributed aviation posture. On San Clemente Island, Marines with Marine Wing Support Squadron 373 constructed a four-point forward arming and refueling point that enabled H-1 attack helicopters, CH-53E heavy-lift helicopters, and MV-22B multi-function tiltrotor aircraft to conduct sea denial and close air support operations. At Victorville, MWSS-372 established a four-point FARP to rearm and refuel F-35 and F/A-18 aircraft supporting simulated joint maritime strike missions.
At Sacramento Mather Airport, MWSS-372 established the wing’s furthest node, nearly 400 nautical miles from Camp Pendleton, to sustain F-35C missions during joint long-range strike scenarios.
“When you establish a node, the clock starts,” Galvan said. “Distributed aviation operations require us to get in, generate combat power and be ready to move before an adversary can target us. That’s exactly what our Marines trained to do during Steel Knight.”
A key aspect of node operations was the support squadrons’ ability to rapidly refuel fourth- and fifth-generation fighter jets using the Tactical Aviation Ground Refueling System. Marine Aviation Logistics Squadrons simultaneously distributed ordnance forward, keeping aircraft lethal and in the fight deep within the battlespace.
Each node operated on a deliberate 72- to 96-hour timeline before breaking down and displacing, forcing Marines to move rapidly, limit electromagnetic signatures and rehearse the survivability demands of contested maritime warfare.
“The strength of the hub–spoke–node construct is that it allows us to maneuver aviation like a weapon system,” DeVore said. “When Victorville, San Clemente Island, and Mather can rearm and refuel fighters independently, we can mass effects without massing forces, a critical advantage in the maritime fight.”
DAO execution during Steel Knight 25 also strengthened 3rd MAW’s integration with the joint force. U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III, KC-135 Stratotankers and C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, along with the KC-130J Super Hercules from 3rd MAW, supported nodal establishment operations. HH-60 aircraft supported refueling and personnel recovery training, while B-1 bombers contributed to long-range targeting scenarios. Navy medical personnel partnered with Marine aviation platforms to support mass casualty and casualty evacuation training, reinforcing the ability of Marine and naval forces to provide life-saving care while operating from distributed maritime locations. This integration ensured aviation operations could be sustained even as forces maneuvered across dispersed nodes in a contested environment.
As missions progressed, 3rd MAW aircraft conducted close air support, defensive and offensive counter-air missions, long-range reconnaissance, tactical troop and equipment insertions, and maritime strike rehearsals.
The wing’s ability to maneuver aircraft and the required fuel, ordnance, security forces, and communication networks, between the hub, spoke and nodes allowed Marines to replicate the speed, unpredictability, and sustainment required in a fight against a near-peer adversary.
“Steel Knight gave us a realistic look at how distributed aviation operations enable the future maritime fight,” said Col. Llonie Cobb, Chief of Staff, 3rd MAW. “Rapid displacement, expeditionary sustainment and tight integration with the joint force aren’t optional anymore, they’re essential.”
Across Victorville, San Clemente Island and Mather, Marines demonstrated the technical proficiency, adaptability and combat mindset required to sustain aviation operations across dispersed terrain. By executing Distributed Aviation Operations supported by the hub-spoke-node framework, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing reinforced its ability to operate as a forward, resilient Aviation Combat Element for I Marine Expeditionary Force, ready to support maritime operations alongside the joint force wherever the mission demands.
“Every node we opened, every sortie we pushed, and every strike we coordinated strengthened I MEF’s aviation advantage,” Cobb said. “This is what 3rd MAW brings to the fight.”