Red Flag-Alaska 24-3, a Pacific Air Forces-sponsored exercise, began Aug. 15, with primary flight operations over the Joint Pacific-Alaska Range Complex and is scheduled to run through Aug. 30. Red Flag-Alaska is designed to provide realistic training in a simulated combat environment.
Approximately 1,800 service members are expected to fly, maintain and support more than 50 aircraft from 15 units during this iteration of the exercise. In addition to the U.S., service members from the Royal Australian Air Force are participating, enabling them to exchange tactics, techniques and procedures while improving interoperability with fellow Airmen. Most aircraft will be based at, and fly from, Eielson Air Force Base and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
“Red Flag is the result of the Vietnam era of fighting,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Richard Crumrine, an exchange officer and E-7A Wedgetail air battle manager assigned to 2 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force. “We noticed a lot of casualties were occurring, so Red Flag was originally spun up to allow fighter pilots to get their first glimpse of combat without going into combat. It has since evolved, providing the entire participating joint and coalition force their first 10 combat sorties.”
As Red Flag has evolved over the years since Vietnam, it not only provides fighter pilots their first 10 combat sorties, but also includes training for Airmen manning a variety of aircraft such as the KC-135 Stratotanker, KC-46 Pegasus, C-17 Globemasters, C-130 Hercules, and command and control platforms like the E-3 Sentry and E-7A Wedgetail.
“From the detachment’s perspective, Red Flag is important, in that it provides an unmatched swath of air space for participants to wargame and test their own units’ TTPs, and from those lessons learned develop new TTPs and take them back to their units,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Tyler Sellers, assistant director of operations assigned to the 354th Operations Group Detachment 1, JBER. “It’s also an opportunity for them to certify their combat readiness through a (Combat Certification 1) exercise, essentially using Red Flag as a validation measure for their readiness for combat scenarios.”
Red Flag-Alaska training spans from individual skills to complex, large-scale joint engagements. The exercises can be adapted to integrate various forces into a realistic threat environment using the more than 77,000 square miles of airspace in the Joint Pacific-Alaska Range Complex, which is the largest combat training range in the world.
“This (Red Flag) is called a STO (Special Technical Operations) Flag, it is an exercise held at the highest possible level of classification that we have, as the U.S. between our partner nations,” said Sellers. “We are bringing together the best of our inventories to integrate, operate, and test ourselves for strengths and weaknesses. So, the expectations are there to test our capabilities and weigh them against those of our adversaries.”
As Red Flag continues over the next two weeks, the U.S. Air Force and RAAF will work side-by-side to solve complex scenarios learning from each other to provide combat ready forces for any potential future conflicts.
