Air Force’s Anticipated William Tell Weapons Meet Postponed

A few weeks after the Air Force announced its prestigious William Tell Air-to-Air Weapons Meet would return in March, the service has decided to postpone the event to later this year, according to Air Combat Command.

“The decision to postpone the competition was made to maximize available resources, and [William Tell] is intended to continue in the future,” an ACC spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine, adding that a new date for the competition will be released as soon as its available.

The spokesperson added that the event, a storied Air Force ompetition, named after the Swiss folk hero and legendary archer, is being rescheduled to “align with other ACC air superiority exercises.”

This is the second time in two years that event planners have had to postpone William Tell, which features fighter pilots, intel officers, and ground crews going head-to-head in a series of contests meant to get their competitive juices flowing. Originally, leaders wanted to host the event in September 2025, but budget challenges and global events caused them to push it back to 2026.

The last iteration of the competition was held in 2023, ending a 19-year hiatus. Hundreds of Airmen from units in ACC, Pacific Air Forces, and the Air National Guard took part in air combat events that ranged from one-on-one basic fighter maneuvers, or “dogfighting,” to teams made up of a dozen F-22s, F-35s, and F-15s flying against up to 40 adversaries.

Officials plan to add F-16s to this year’s event, which had been scheduled for March 6–15 at the Air Dominance Center in Savannah, Ga.

Aircrews traditionally spend many hours training to prepare for William Tell, and the March competition was fast approaching—even as the U.S. continues to build forces in the Middle East amid tensions with Iran over the future of its nuclear program. The ACC spokesperson could not immediately say if the current operations tempo led to the postponement.

The number of U.S. fighter aircraft available to participate in William Tell “would be cut significantly anytime you have a contingency operation; it makes complete sense that we would defer this,” said retired Col. John Venable, a fellow at AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies and a former F-16 pilot and Thunderbirds commander.

Venable added that the F-22, one of the most dynamic air-to-air fighters in the arsenal, is in “high demand” right now given that the Air Force only has roughly five squadrons across the active, Air Guard and Reserve.

So far, the buildup near Iran includes a large naval presence such as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, as well as six Air Force F-35As that landed at Lajes Field in the Azores on Jan. 29 after crossing the Atlantic from Puerto Rico. The Portuguese archipelago lies off the eastern coast of Europe and often serves as a staging point for U.S. aircraft enroute to the Middle East.  

The spokesperson’s reference to other air superiority exercises could mean William Tell is folded into another event. The Air Force hosts a series of Red Flag exercises each year focused on realistic combat training at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. The most recent edition started Feb. 2 and runs through Feb. 13, but other versions are typically held in March and July.

Another version of Red Flag, Red Flag-Alaska, takes place at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and Eielson Air Force, with three editions schedule for April, June, and August.

Traditionally a biannual event, William Tell has a rich history dating back to the 1950s. It provides a unique opportunity for the best fighter pilots and aviators to square off against each other in a series of demanding air-to-air combat scenarios. The event also features a gunnery contest that had competitors fire their aircraft machine guns at a banner being towed by a Learjet.

William Tell isn’t just for pilots, though. It also offers ground crews a chance to compete in events to assess efficiency in loading weapons, maintaining aircraft, and intelligence operations. 

Brig. Gen. Brian Laidlaw, ACC director of operations, called the competition an opportunity for “iron to sharpen iron,” one that forces Airmen to “evolve, solve problems quickly, strengthen their bonds and demonstrate lethality under pressure in a realistic environment,” according to a Jan. 22 statement.

“This competition brings our legacy of risk-taking, innovation and excellence through today, ensuring we remain ready to dominate and prevail,” Laidlaw said.

William Tell was held regularly from 1954 to 1996, but budget cuts in the wake of the Cold War ended the practice with the exception of a 2004 revival to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first contest. The competition was resurrected in 2023 to reintroduce high-end competitions to help prepare aircrews for a future conflict with potential adversaries such as China or Russia.

“The spirit that we have in competition against one another, when we have the opportunities to do so, is that same spirit that will bring us together as a team when it comes time for us to fight our adversaries,” Brig. Gen. D. Micah “Zeus” Fesler, William Tell Air Expeditionary Wing commander, said in 2023. “There is an incredible value in healthy competition, and it is truly what makes us great as an Air Force.”

Venable added: “These are really important competitions for readiness because when you have a team that is spun up to an elite level at a phase, that actually will help spin up the entire base around it.”

The Air Force has held other realistic training events in the past such as Gunsmoke, which would have teams converging on Nellis from around the world. Gunsmoke began in 1949 and ceased in 1995 at the end of the Cold War. Gunsmoke was replaced by Hawgsmoke, a scaled-down competition focusing on bombing, missile, and tactical gunnery for A-10 Thunderbolt II units.

Exercises like Gunsmoke and William Tell do a lot to “elevate competition” in the fighter wings, Venable said. “Anytime you have pride in what you’re doing and you’re competing against other units, it elevates the readiness.”