Inside Red Flag

  • Published
  • By 1Lt Sara Six
  • 964th Airborne Air Control Squadron
For 21 days and nights, hundreds of US and Coalition aircraft tore through the skies over the bare Nevada desert, participating in the first three-week-long Red Flag Exercise in 28 years.

Behind it all, coordinating the intricate battle plans, were the members of the 964th Airborne Air Control Squadron from Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.

Normally, a Red Flag lasts two weeks and is designed to provide a new pilot or navigator the opportunity to experience their first ten air-to-air combat sorties in a controlled training environment.

This particular Red Flag exercise included the two week air-to-air fight, yet added a third week of Close Air Support (CAS) and Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) training. This training accurately simulates the type of missions currently being performed by pilots in Southwest Asia supporting Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

Mr. Gregory Weart, director of operations for Red Flag exercises, explains, "we are the Air Force's Large Force Employment exercise; adding the third week allowed units that were here to participate in the LFE and the additional opportunity to practice and refine skills that are currently being employed in theater."

"The focused week of CAS, CSAR and Dynamic Targeting was more than academic," Mr. Weart said. "It was conducted in a reduced threat environment, not completely permissive, with the realism of live and unpredictable threats."

Mr. Weart describes the exercise as a "Dynamic Learning Laboratory" rather than a course with a syllabus. There are several factors that make each mission unique.

"Every exercise has different units participating with different skill sets. Though the Nevada desert can be monotonously similar when it comes to weather, one merely needs to fly in FLAG to see how much weather can affect the execution of involved attack plans. Add to that the vagaries of a power outage, equipment malfunctions and the like and what you expected the plan to look like often is not what unfolds," he explained.

Mr. Weart explained that working through these unique challenges and learning from them is the goal of Red Flag. "If we can identify areas that would consistently correct execution errors, then the combat crews truly learn something to take with them into conflict," he said.

"Additionally all participants in FLAG learn about their own ability to withstand the rigors and stress of integration; the ability to flex and the need to meet your own commitments when others are relying on you to perform," said Mr. Weart.

The 964 AACS participated in the exercise by providing command and control to the fighters, aiding them in targeting, and providing threat warnings to ensure all came home safely. Not only was the length of the exercise a first, but for most of the controllers, this was their first large scale exercise.

"Flying everyday was exhausting," said 1st Lt. Graham Glaser, weapons controller, 964 AACS, "but being able to talk with the pilots one on one about the mission was really educational. It's an opportunity we rarely get."

The crews worked 12-hour days throughout the exercise. They reported roughly three hours before take-off, received multiple briefings to prepare for the day's mission, flew the sortie, and then conducted multiple debriefs to gather the lessons learned for the day.

New crew members faced the challenge of trying to handle the largest number of fighters they had ever controlled, while also trying to integrate with each other and different countries.

1st Lt. Nick Petersen, air weapons officer, 964 AACS, said, "seeing how [everyone] operated and worked so closely with and similarly to the USAF made me realize how our training is standardized across a variety of mediums."