Red Flag gets even bigger

Simon Mander

TYPHOONS ARE taking part in the largest scale Exercise Red Flag ever as Allied Air Forces prepare to face potential future threats from the Indo-Pacific region.

Previously run over the Nevada Test and Training Range’s 12,000 square miles of airspace and 2.9 million acres of land, this year new training areas in Utah, California and over the Pacific Coast have been added to challenge crews practising long-range combat missions.

Now in its 48th year, the three weeks of manoeuvres involve nearly 100 aircraft and 3,000 coalition air force personnel from the US, Britain, and Australia.

RAF Combat Air Force Commander Air Cdre Howard Edwards said: “This is the most important exercise that the RAF participates in each year because the scale and complexity of it tests all the participants in a way that just does not exist anywhere else in the world.

“The original intent of the exercise was to seek to replicate the first 10 combat missions a fast jet aircrew will face in combat, now it has developed to recognise the threats that have evolved.”

Aligning with the US 2022 National Defense Strategy, the latest Red Flag aims to ensure the Allies keep pace with rival air forces in the Indo-Pacific.

An RAF detachment of seven Typhoons and around 300 personnel from Lossiemouth’s

II (Army Co-operation) Sqn, supported by a Brize Norton-based Voyager, are taking part.

In addition, 51 Sqn personnel from Waddington have been integrated into the crew of a USAF RC-135 Rivet Joint intelligencegathering aircraft.

USAF 414th Combat Training Squadron commander Colonel

Jared Hutchinson said: “In this iteration, the allied force will be presented with many new and emerging real-world tactical problems that enables them to learn in the world’s best combat training environment.”

He said young operators had been prioritised to take part in simulated large force combat missions against ground-based air defence systems, aggressor aircraft, cyber and space-based threats.

Other participating aircraft include US Marine Corps F-35Bs from Fighter Attack Sqn 211 based in Yuma, Arizona, B-52H Stratofortress, A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-22 Raptor, F-16C Fighting Falcon and EA-18G Growler.