MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Airmen from the 23d Wing participated in a combat readiness exercise April 13-17, 2026, in the Savannah Air Dominance Center at Savannah Air National Guard Base, Georgia, as part of the Air Force’s push to hone lethality and readiness across the service.
Ready Tiger 26-3 tested the wing’s ability to meet joint-force-commander intent against pacing threats in a contested, degraded and operationally limited environment.
The wing’s Inspector General staff developed the training objectives and evaluated the performance of the Airmen as they maintained the ability to operate across a main operating base, forward operating site and contingency location with the responsibility of command and control of an assigned mission generation force element. They also assessed the effectiveness of information-operations guidance aimed at preventing avoidable losses, with specific focus on counter small unmanned aerial systems, signals management and emissions control.
“Ready Tiger and future exercises will aggressively integrate the latest intelligence to ensure our training always remains relevant and unmatched,” said Col. Hiram Ortiz, 23d Wing Inspector General. “Every test of the 23d’s lethality and readiness reinforces one absolute truth — that our team is postured to deliver airpower, anytime and anywhere.”
Who Was There?
Airmen from the 23d Wg Air Staff served as the main command and control node with support from the 23d Combat Air Base Squadron Airmen, who provided force protection, sustainment and base operations support integration capabilities. The 95th Fighter Squadron and 95th Fighter Generation Squadron from Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, flew in their F-35A Lightning II as the bolt-on fighter element, and the communications and network support came from the 242nd Combat Communications Squadron, Geiger Field, Spokane International Airport, Washington.
Multiple observers from across the joint force and higher headquarters also arrived to view, take notes and help assess the performance of the exercise players, to include the Marine Wing Support Squadron 273, Sixteenth Air Force (Air Forces Cyber), Fifteenth Air Force, Air Combat Command, among other teams.
And throughout it all, IG and the Wing Inspection Team (WIT) served as the designated impartial observers, evaluating and assessing performance against established standards while documenting strengths, deficiencies and recommended improvement areas. These observations ultimately going to a comprehensive report for commanders and higher headquarters, highlighting issues, identifying root causes and providing recommendations to get better.
What they did
The warfighting unit for Ready Tiger was hundreds of different specialties smashed together, and the expectation was a no-fail mission designed to place the team in a hazardous location and exercise sortie generation and the elimination of enemy targets in a highly contested environment – all while responding to enemy attacks through either conventional kinetic warfare or through attacks on public sentiment inside the information environment. The constant focus on signals management drove an enhanced operations security mindset that created additional command and control hardships.
Simply put, that specialized team of Airmen made up the foundation for opening a headquarters and using both existing and mobile infrastructure to launch jets on target from popup locations throughout region while avoiding enemy retaliation, demonstrating the success of Agile Combat Employment and Mission Ready Airmen models.
The specific scenarios in the exercise are built from commander’s desired learning objectives, with the IG and WIT shaping them to assess how units respond. The IG focused on evaluating the commander’s ability to lead and synchronize forces.
“We develop the inspection framework, designed to test compliance with directives and the unit's ability to perform its mission-essential tasks under duress,” said Master Sgt. Paisley Majewski, 23d Wg IG superintendent and WIT manager. “ACC priorities are centered on building a more lethal and ready force capable of deterring aggression and winning in a contested environment, so Airmen must be ready and properly trained, equipped and prepared to execute their mission at a moment’s notice. Exercises like Ready Tiger ensure the 23d Wg is ready to Attack, Rescue and Prevail.”
Why it matters
The giant process of evaluation, assessment, feedback, after action reporting, and corrective action planning is all in place to enable leadership and exercise players to receive an objective and accurate assessment of the force’s overall readiness.
“We leverage these findings to maximize training, to forge future exercises and to deliberately target areas for growth,” Ortiz said. “The goal is simple — maximize our lethality and perfect combat effectiveness.”
Faster, stronger, flexible, adaptive. Ready. Now.
Key observations from these scenarios included decision-making speed and quality under pressure and uncertainty, as well as communication effectiveness showing clarity and resilience in contested environments. Coordination was also assessed, emphasizing how well internal staff, adjacent units and joint partners integrate to achieve a unified operational effect.
The WIT and IG team evaluated exercise players’ actions, and injected different scenarios in real time to put additional stress and force the players to go through their every step of their primary, alternate, contingency and emergency plans. Depending on the agility of players, sometimes the full breadth of a scenario wouldn’t play out, so the commander learning objectives may not be exercised fully. With the loving help of WIT, the players had the proper scope, scale, rigor and relevance to effectively assess unit readiness.
“These exercises help reinforce that we’re ready for the call no matter when it comes,” said Col. Sean Hall, 23d Wg commander and air expeditionary wing commander for Ready Tiger. “We’re taking advantage of every minute of training, and we’re ensuring units across the 23d Wing are ready to deploy as a team. Success looks like a team that can solve any problem; and our team never gives up — they always find a way to win.”
“We’re going to get the mission done,” he continued about how his team performed through generating airpower while navigating through advanced attacks, degraded communications, logistics and supply chain issues, and other advanced capabilities tests for accountability and medical readiness. “Our mindset of teamwork and team building, partnered with a spirit of trust across all entities in the wing, makes a group who never quits and who are ready to deliver airpower on behalf of any combatant commander.”
As Ready Tiger ended, leaders emphasized that the value of the exercise extends beyond evaluation alone. Each iteration strengthens the Wing’s ability to identify gaps, refine tactics and reinforce mission readiness. By combining realistic scenarios with assessment, the 23d Wing ensures its Airmen remain prepared to operate in complex, contested environments and deliver combat airpower whenever and wherever it is needed.