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VMAQ-4 aircrew prowl Nevada skies during Exercise Red Flag

Marine Corps News

Release Date: 8/21/2003

Story by Cpl. Nathaniel C. LeBlanc

Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.(Aug. 21, 2003) -- Coalition fighter jets screech across the desert sky to deliver superior air power against their unsuspecting targets.

The EA-6B Prowlers give coalition forces the element of surprise as it stalks the skies, and to develop these abilities, the aircrew from Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 4 are participating in Exercise Red Flag at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.

"Our overall goal is to increase proficiency in delivering the Prowler's assets in a combat environment," said Capt. Jeffrey Bauer, an electronic countermeasures officer with VMAQ-4. "Another goal is to have some of the new crew members become familiarized with working along side coalition forces."

The two-week exercise is designed to train coalition servicemembers in an simulated combat environment that will help build team integration as a superior combat force that can deliver lethal air power at anytime and any place.

"the exercise gets some of the aircrew, who haven't been deployed yet, exposure to a high operational tempo with 'real world' demands that you'd find in a combat environment," he added.

The squadron is joined with Canadian, German, British, and Israeli squadrons, as well as the United States Air Force. Throughout the exercise, they will perform role-playing combat scenarios to better develop the aircrews' ability in the Prowler along with integration of other assets.

"It's hot, we're flying high altitudes, the environment is very high paced, and there's a lot of communication chatter. It's pretty hectic, so for some one that's not use to it, it can be really stressful," Bauer said. "This gets them used to real world ops and is an advantage for them when the time comes."

The aircrew performs two flights in the morning and two in the afternoon each day to provide their electronic abilities to friendly aircraft in the air.

"This is an unusual type of training for most of us," said Capt. David Palm, Prowler pilot, with VMAQ-4, and Santa Cruz, Calif native. "It's not every day you get the chance to participate in an exercise of this magnitude. It's great to see how everything works at a large scale operation."

The aircrew participants of Red Flag are known as the 'Blue Air' forces who go head-to-head with the aggressors known as the 'Red Air."

The 'Red Air' forces are composed of dedicated adversary squadrons stationed at the Air Force base, along with a British Royal Air Force Sea Harrier squadron. In most cases during the exercise, the 'Blue Air' gathers together to form air-strike packages with counter-offensive tactics.

"Once the Blue Air push for their attack against red air opposition, we'll follow behind, staying outside the threat ring, providing Prowler assets with jamming or using the HARM [High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile] system," Palm said. "The role-playing makes you take the training more seriously. When you have aircraft flying by, and you're in the middle of everything, it really shows you the big picture."

The aircrew from VMAQ-4 hopes to become a better combat ready squadron with new insight and knowledge of the battlefield in the sky.

"This exercise gives us the best training available without actually fighting a war," Palm added. "Through this training, the one thing it has taught me is listening to your radio is key. Building and understanding the big picture of your surroundings and knowing where everyone is through listening, can be significant to completing the mission. Especially, dealing with a massive platform such as Red Flag."