Red Flag commences
Above:
RAF Typhoons prepare for The Red Flag exercises at Nellis Air Force Base, USA.
Courtesy Wg Cdr Eklund RAF/MoD Crown Copyright 2015
Red Flag, the largest and most complex air warfare exercise in the world has commenced at Nellis Air Force Base in the United States.
Over the course of the next three weeks Royal Air Force personnel will train to operate alongside partners from the United States and Australia in a series of increasingly challenging scenarios. The training will ensure the RAF maintains the very highest levels of readiness for all potential future military operations.
The RAF Commander at Red Flag is Group Captain Mark Chappell. He said: “This is the culmination of months of hard work and preparation for the squadrons and for many this will be their first taste of what real world operations will be like.
“Typhoon will be operating in a multi-role capacity and this will be the first operational test of its P1Eb upgrade. It’s also the first time Sentinel has participated in Red Flag and in addition we have a team from 1 Air Control Centre who will provide essential tactical command and control for the whole exercise, supported by experts from the space and cyber domains.”
For the duration of the exercise Gp Capt Chappell, who is Station Commander of RAF Lossiemouth, is also the Air Expeditionary Wing Vice Commander. He said: “It’s a privilege to be given the AEW Vice Commander position which demonstrates the unique relationship that we enjoy with our American partners.”
A RAF pilot climbs into a Typhoon FGR4 multi-role The Red Flag exercises commenced 40 years ago to address lessons learnt in the Vietnam War where casualty rates among pilots fell significantly after their first 10 combat sorties. By making air warfare training as realistic possible the ability of pilots to survive future air combat is greatly enhanced.
The training takes place in the clear blue skies of Nevada over the US Air Force's premier military training area with includes more than 15,000 square miles of airspace and 2.9 million acres of land. On the ground there are 1,900 possible simulated targets, realistic threat systems and an opposing enemy force which includes a squadron of jet fighters. Training on this scale is not possible in Europe.
