Red Flag improves combat capability
Air Combat Command News
Release Date: 9/09/2003
By Airman Dilia DeGrego Air Warfare Center Public Affairs
9/8/2003 - NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (ACCNS) -- Airmen here wrapped up another Red Flag exercise Aug. 29 and added the latest chapter to the base's 28-year history of training air combat crews.
Members of the 414th Combat Training Squadron conduct Red Flag exercises in conjunction with Air Expeditionary Force rotations, so combat aircrews can train in the most realistic simulated war environment possible and are best prepared to fight in real combat situations, said Col. Joel Malone, the 414th CTS commander.
Every Red Flag exercise is made of one, two or three periods and each period is two weeks long, said Colonel Malone. At the end of each period, a new group of flying units arrives, and the last one leaves. Each period, Red Flag receives enough participants and aircraft to compose an AEF-size flying wing.
The "father" of Red Flag, Col. Richard "Moody" Suter, drew up the initial concept on a cocktail napkin when he was stationed here, according to Lt. Col. Tim Veeder, the 414th CTS director of operations.
Colonel Suter knew of studies demonstrating that the majority of combat losses occurred during a pilot's first 10 combat missions, and argued for the creation of a training environment so realistic that a new pilot would log his first 10 combat missions in a controlled environment. The training would prepare the pilot for the most vulnerable period of actual combat, said Colonel Veeder.
Established in 1975, Red Flag is the largest composite training exercise in the world and involves a variety of interdiction, attack, air superiority, suppression of enemy air defenses, airlift, air refueling and reconnaissance aircraft.
During a typical Red Flag exercise, the friendly Blue Forces fight against the enemy Red Forces, the aggressors, in combat situations.
Blue Forces are made up of units from Air Combat Command, Air Mobility Command, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Pacific Air Forces, the Air National Guard, the Air Force Reserve, Army, Navy, Marine Corps and allied air forces.
Red Forces consist of Red Flag's Adversary Tactics Division flying the F-16 and provides air threats through the emulation of enemy tactics, said Colonel Veeder. Other U.S. units and allies also fly as aggressors.
The exercise is one of a series of advanced training programs administered by the Air Warfare Center and the 414th CTS, explained Colonel Malone.
This air war training is conducted on the world's largest bombing and gunnery range, which is made up of 2.9 million acres of land and 12,000 square miles of air space at Nellis.
"This training is not a small job, that's why we have to use the range," said Colonel Veeder. "Since 1975, approximately 400,000 people, more than 27,000 aircraft, all sister services and 24 countries have attended Red Flag."
This training includes the use of live munitions for bombing exercises within the Nellis range, which is not always the case at other training bases. Fighter pilots benefit from the experience of dropping live munitions as opposed to inert training munitions.
"The simulations we're able to conduct here on the range are like nothing else in the world," said Capt. Shamsher Mann, an F-16CJ pilot with the 14th Fighter Squadron, Misawa Air Base, Japan. "The training we obtain at Misawa is done on a much smaller scale than Red Flag. At Misawa, we may use four or eight aircraft and here we use 50 or 70. The training here is definitely more similar to war-like scenarios.
"Red Flag's strength is that it's able to task-saturate each individual pilot more often than anywhere else," said Captain Mann said. "When we do go into combat, for example, 'Shock and Awe' over Baghdad, it was probably less task-saturating than a Red Flag sortie, but there was more on the line."
The training here has played an important role in preparing pilots involved in previous wartime situations.
"Red Flag definitely helped me bring my wingmen home," he said. "There is no better training for a fighter pilot than to participate in Red Flag."
"On night one of Shock and Awe, the thought that went through my mind is we train to such a high standard," said the captain. "When I saw the triple-A (anti-aircraft artillery) and SAMs (surface-to-air missiles) coming towards us, it was a real eye-opener, but I think our overall training, which includes Red Flag, was solid and is what carried us through that situation."
Ensuring aircrew members receive the safest and best training are Red Flag commanders' priorities.
"Our job is to make sure that our combat aircrews are trained to the very highest levels," said Colonel Malone. "It's our goal to decrease the number of fatalities and improve combat effectiveness. One life lost is one life too many."
The next Red Flag exercise begins in October.
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