U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Brett Clashman Beginning Monday, the Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., flightline will fill to capacity for the scheduled Red Flag 12-4 combat training exercise involving the Air Forces of the United States and its Allies. The exercise takes place on the Nevada Test and Training Range, north of Las Vegas, with aircraft departing and arriving regularly from Nellis.
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. — The Red Flag 12-4 combat training exercise begins Monday at Nellis, bringing in aircraft from countries as far away as the United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Columbia, and the United Kingdom. This exercise will continue through July 27, and the skies over Southern Nevada will be active with aircraft such as F-16s, A-10s, B-1Bs, and KC-135 refuelers. Southern Nevada residents will notice increased military aircraft activity and an increase in the noise level during this timeframe.
Red Flag is a realistic combat training exercise involving the air forces of the United States and its allies. The exercise is organized at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., and hosted north of Las Vegas on the Nevada Test and Training Range — the U.S. Air Force’s premier military training area with more than 12,000 square miles of airspace and 2.9 million acres of land. With 1,900 possible targets, realistic threat systems and an opposing enemy force that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world, Nellis and the NTTR are the home of a “peacetime battlefield,†providing combat air forces with the ability to train to fight together, survive together and win together.
The 414th Combat Training Squadron is responsible for executing Red Flag and this exercise is just one of a series of advanced training programs administered at Nellis and on the NTTR by organizations assigned to the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center.
More than 70 aircraft are scheduled to depart Nellis twice a day, around midday and again in the evening. Aircraft may remain in the air for up to eight hours. The flying times are scheduled to accommodate the other flying missions at Nellis and provide Red Flag participants with valuable training in planning and executing a wide-variety of combat missions.
Following are the U.S. forces and foreign aircraft and their designated installations and countries who are participating:
- 48th Fighter Wing, 493rd Fighter Squadron F-15Cs, from Royal Air Force base Lakenheath, United Kingdom
- 388th Fighter Wing, 421st Fighter Squadron F-16 CMs, from Hill AFB, Utah
- 23rd Wing, 74th Fighter Squadron A-10Cs from Moody AFB, Ga.
- 28th Bomb Wing, 34th Bomber Squadron B-1Bs, from Ellsworth AFB, S.D.
- Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 3 EA-6Bs from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C.
- U.S. Navy Electronic Attack Squadron 209 EA-6Bs from Joint Base Andrews, Md.
- 53rd Wing, 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron F-16CJs from Nellis AFB, Nev.
- 53rd Wing, 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron F-16CJs from Nellis AFB, Nev.
- 552nd Air Control Wing, 964th Air Control Squadron E-3s from Tinker AFB, Okla.
- 432nd Wing, 15th Reconnaissance Squadron RQ-1s from Creech AFB, Nev.
- 92nd Air Refueling Wing, 93rd and 92nd Air Refueling Squadron KC-135s from Fairchild AFB, Wash.
In addition to U.S. aircraft, the United Arab Emirates, flying F-16s, and the Air Force of the Republic of Colombia, flying KFIRs, will participate.
For more information about Red Flag, call the Nellis Public Affairs Office at (702) 652-2750.
