The Shadow Operations Center-Nellis, or ShOC-N, concluded its 2025 Experimentation Series with Capstone 2025, a pivotal event designed to enhance joint and coalition interoperability and accelerate progress in command-and-control modernization. As the culminating event of a series of rigorous experiments, Capstone 2025 focused on artificial intelligence applications for C2, human-machine teaming, kill chain automation, and multi-domain operations, Nellis Air Force Base. 
 
Capt. Stephanie Albanese, 805th Combat Training Squadron/ShOC-N Capstone 2025 experiment director, provided detailed insights into the experiment’s objectives, technological advancements, and key lessons learned, highlighting how the ShOC-N as the U.S. Air Force’s Battle Lab is advancing innovation in military operations. 

A Global Experiment: Integrating Joint and Coalition Forces

Capstone 2025 featured unprecedented joint and coalition participation, including the U.S. Navy (the Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center and the Naval War College), Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity, U.S. Army Pacific warfighters, and Five Eye partners, the United Kingdom and Canada. According to Capt. Albanese, the event marked a significant departure from earlier ShOC experiments, by testing coalition and joint forces, enabling the ShOC-N to refine Maven Smart Systems tools while advancing Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control objectives. 

“Having coalition and joint partners collocated with U.S. Air Force and Alaska Air National warfighters as well as digitally connected via battle lab environments and communication pathways means we can holistically assess the interoperability of our tactics, techniques, procedures, and technology,” said Lt. Col. Wesley Schultz, 805th CTS/ShOC-N director of operations. “Coalition and joint partner participation enhances our experiments and accelerates technical solutions to warfighter challenges.” 

U.S. Navy support in the Dynamic Targeting Cell, along with remote U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps participation, ensured the data accuracy in a realistic combat environment. “This integration revealed new insights on how AI and machine learning can support diverse tactics and align exercises with CJADC2 goals,” said Lt. Col. Shawn Finney, 805th CTS/ShOC-N commander. 

A key milestone was the integration of the Combined Federated Battle Laboratories Network with the U.K., enabling parallel testing of their Air Power 4.0 AI/ML tool. The U.K. generated courses of action and provided feedback by sharing Air Tasking Orders, advancing cross-national technological collaboration. 

“The real-time integration with the U.K. and direct comparison of their AI capabilities against U.S. systems achieved here is unparalleled,” Finney said. “It lays the foundation for more effective simulations, strengthens data sharing between our nations, enhances collective operational capabilities.” 

Core Focus: Enhancing Decision Advantage

Capstone 2025 focused on improving decision advantage through C2 modernization and intelligence workflows. By leveraging new AI-driven tools like match-effector and COA generation tools, the experiment sought to enhance the speed and accuracy of dynamic mission re-planning, or DMR, and targeting. 

“We used these tools to react to changes before and during operations, increasing mission agility and FrOB [Friendly Order of Battle] awareness,” Albanese explained. “The MSS Joint Blue Asset Tool, for instance, automated updates on blue force assets, providing real-time awareness and improving mission coordination.” 

According to Albanese, Capstone 2025’s results will directly inform future C2 and intelligence modernization efforts across Air Combat Command and the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center. “The experiment culminated technology development and integration from Experiment 4, using development sprints to rapidly address USAFWC needs. This approach enabled accelerated, warfighter-directed software advancements in time for upcoming Bamboo Eagle exercises,” she said. 

Advancing Emerging Technologies

AI/ML require careful training, particularly when connected directly to systems and people that affect life and limb. Capstone 2025 advanced previous efforts and incorporated lessons from Department-Level Exercises to ensure modernization aligned with the real needs of the warfighter. While traditional acquisition processes are necessary, they often lack the flexibility to rapidly advance technologies like AI/ML. ShOC-N experiments used real warfighters to assess these tools while applying rigorous methods to evaluate their accuracy. 

“Capstone 2025 demonstrated the vital role of AI/ML in modernizing our approach to battle management,” Schultz said. “By applying real-world rigor and focusing on the warfighter’s needs, we can refine and integrate solutions that make a tangible impact on operational readiness.” 

Methodical Data Collection

Capstone 2025 used a deliberate approach to data collection; each day used the same scenario, targets, and ATOs to ensure consistency, while the environment’s complexity increased over five days to meet collection goals. This allowed the ShOC-N to identify trends in AI/ML performance, including failures and areas for improvement. 

“Early on, operators noted discrepancies in the Maverick tool’s targeting recommendations and were able to adjust their metrics, telling the system what to prioritize. As the experiment progressed, these adjustments allowed the system to generate more accurate recommendations,” Albanese said. 

Dynamic Mission Re-Planning and Tactical C2

Dynamic Mission Re-Planning, or DMR, was a cornerstone of Capstone 2025, testing the adaptability of operators under changing operational conditions. Operators in the Joint Battle Watch utilized FrOB and DMR tools to generate new COAs when scenarios changed unexpectedly. Over 300 solutions were generated, tracking more than 500 assets, helping refine situational awareness and improving the speed of decision-making. 

“Dynamic mission re-planning is critical in a complex, fast-paced environment, and this experiment showed how we can support real-time adjustments to operations,” Albanese said. “The warfighter feedback we received during this experiment will directly inform the next iteration of Bamboo Eagle, improving tools like Maverick and Target Workbench.” 

Tactical C2: Enhancing Interoperability

The experiment also tested interoperability across joint and coalition forces, particularly with TAC-C2 nodes. By integrating air, land, maritime, and cyber assets, it tested dynamic targeting and joint fire coordination in complex, multi-domain scenarios. 

The TAC-C2 capability was challenged under extreme conditions, including adverse weather disruptions, resource constraints, aircraft fall out, air-to-air engagements, and realistic enemy reactions, forcing operators to rapidly adapt. 

“This first-time experimentation highlighted service-specific verification needs and showed how datalink alignment is essential for further integration,” Schultz said. “We hope to expand datalink sharing with the Navy, as this event included Navy participation only from within the ShOC-N.” 

Expanding mission sharing across multiple TAC-C2 nodes improved operational flexibility. “The Tactical Operations Kit-Lite, integrated with MSS tools, allowing joint and coalition forces to share critical targeting data and adjust missions in real time during realistic scenarios designed to rigorously test technology and capture key operational insights,” he said. 

Advancing the Long-Range Kill Chain

Capstone 2025 made significant strides in advancing the long-range kill chain by using a deliberate approach to joint and coalition integration and expanding the use of AI-enabled C2 tools. The experiment built on established intelligence workflows, while enhancing NEXUS, integrated joint and coalition targeting processes into MSS tools, served as the culmination event for Experiment 4’s DMR and FrOB tools. 

A major LRKC milestone was the structured integration of non-kinetic effects. Capstone 2025 incorporated NKE by injecting dilemmas into the JBW to drive re-planning and creating a parallel Target Workbench for NKE tracking. 

By observing how human operators interact with AI-supported tools under realistic conditions, Capstone 2025 identified strengths and gaps in dynamic targeting, C2 integration, and multi-domain coordination. These insights will inform improvements to JBW operations and strengthen HMT as these tools evolve under warfighter guidance. 

The Capstone event leveraged several AI/ML tools to enhance the speed, scale, and accuracy of battle management decisions across multiple C2 nodes. This enabled operators to refine LRKC TTPs, advance integration and targeting capabilities across various domains. As a result, operators built upon existing LRKC TTPs, and advanced integration and targeting capabilities in several domains. 

“A key highlight was the inclusion of joint and coalition officers as domain SMEs [subject matter experts” in the LRKC experimentation, enabling operators to make faster, more accurate battle management decisions with AI/ML support,” Finney said. “Capstone 25 underscored the need for further inclusion of joint and coalition SMEs and identified promising areas AI/ML refinement as the toolkits evolve to support increasingly complex decisions.” 

Looking Ahead: Operational and Strategic Impact

The insights from Capstone 2025 will influence future exercises, including Bamboo Eagle 26-1/26-3 and Project Convergence. According to Albanese, the lessons learned from Army’s Theater’s Fire Element and Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity participation will help bridge gaps between Army firing solutions and Air Force targeting tools. The ShOC-N will release a Quick-Look and After-Action Report to share key findings with stakeholders such as ACC, USAFWC, and the Department of the Air Force. 

“AI and machine learning have proven to be critical enablers for modern C2,” Finney said. “These tools are already reshaping operations, automating tasks, enhancing decision-making, and supporting commanders on the frontlines.” 

Col. Terry Hjerpe, 505th Combat Training Group commander, added, “Capstone 2025 was not just an experiment; it was a critical step in refining future warfighting strategies. The event provided invaluable data to evolve systems and TTPs, ensuring we are prepared for the complex challenges that will define future conflicts.” 

Experimentation in 2026

The ShOC-N’s experimentation series includes LRKC, kill-chain, and Decision Advantage Sprints for Human-Machine Teaming, or DASHs, as alongside spiral/sprint experiments. These experiments will enable smaller warfighter integration teams to collaborate to rapidly iterate and produce minimum-viable products in as little as two weeks with vendor software development teams, depending on their maturity. The ShOC-N will continue onboarding promising prototype hardware and software solutions, ABMS Digital Infrastructure, and ever-maturing AI/ML solutions. 

“As these MVPs mature, they are integrated into large-scale events like Capstone or Bamboo Eagle exercises,” Finney said. “With the continued evolution of both experiments and capabilities, the ShOC-N’s ability to integrate complex mission threads in 2026 is more promising as ever.” 

Conclusion 

Capstone 2025 demonstrated how deliberate experimentation, joint and coalition integration, and the use of AI-driven tools can advance C2 modernization, dynamic targeting, and kill-chain automation. “By enhancing HMT and providing actionable insights into the LRKC, Capstone 2025 set the stage for future experimentations and exercises, ensuring the U.S. and its allies are prepared for complex, fast-paced multi-domain battlespaces,” said Col. Ryan Hayde, 505th Command and Control Wing commander.