By Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) Public Affairs - Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) conducted Yellow Sands 24.4, a combined air and missile defense exercise, across the Arabian Peninsula alongside coalition allies and regional partner nations, May 28, 2024.

Yellow Sands, a part of U.S. Central Command’s overall Integrated Air and Missile Defense exercise series, focuses on modernizing defense architecture, which requires multinational integration across air, land, sea, space, and cyber domains.

Focusing on full-scale integration of a combat-ready coalition forces, an array of coalition and joint aircraft participated, including advanced fighter, aerial refueling, and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance platforms.

U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles deployed from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base’s 335th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron and a KC-135 Stratotanker from McConnel Air Force Base’s 350th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron rehearsed various combat scenarios alongside Coalition and Regional Partners to advance their ability to interdict and eliminate aerial threats.

The exercise supports the coalition’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense posture, and it serves to enhance theater security cooperation, partner information sharing, and multinational command and control in a contested environment.

Coalition and regional partners continue to face threats from the Iranian Threat Network, and these exercises ensure combined forces remain agile and flexible to defend against any aggressor.