1/16/2015 - NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. - -- Southern Nevada residents may notice increased military aircraft activity as the Air Force conducts Red Flag 15-2 from March 2 - March 13.
Red Flag is a realistic combat training exercise involving the air, space, and cyber forces of the United States and its allies. The exercise is 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 15,000 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 AFB and the NTTR are the home of a simulated battlefield, providing combat air forces with the ability to train to fight together in a peacetime environment, and to survive and win together.
The 414th Combat Training Squadron is responsible for executing Red Flag. The exercise is one out of a series of advanced training programs administered at Nellis AFB and on the NTTR by organizations assigned to the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center.
More than 85 aircraft are scheduled to depart Nellis twice a day and aircraft may remain in the air for up to five hours. Flying times are scheduled to accommodate other flying missions at Nellis AFB and provide Red Flag participants with valuable training in planning and executing a wide-variety of combat missions.
The exercise will include U.S. forces and aircraft from:
- 53rd Wing, 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron, F-15Cs, Nellis AFB, NV.
- 20th Fighter Wing, 55th Fighter Squadron, F-16CJs, Shaw AFB, S.C.
- 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 3, EA-6B, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, NC.
- 138th Fighter Wing, 125th Fighter Squadron, F-16, Tulsa International, OK.
- 5th Bomber Wing, 23rd Bomber Squadron, B-52H, Minot AFB, ND.
- 28th Bomber Wing, 37th Bomber Squadron, B-1B, Ellsworth AFB, SD.
- 388th Fighter Wing, 421st Fighter Squadron, F-16CM, Hill AFB, Utah.
- 552nd Air Combat Wing, 964th Airborne Air Control Squadron, E-3A, Tinker AFB, OK.
- 23rd Wing, 41st Rescue Squadron, HH-60, Moody AFB, GA.
- 23rd Wing, 71st Rescue Squadron, HC-130, Moody AFB, GA.
- 22nd Air Refueling Wing, 344th Air Refueling Squadron, KC-135, McConnell AFB, KS.
- 57th Wing, 64th Aggressors, F-16C, Nellis AFB, NV.
- 57th Wing, 64th Aggressors, F-15C, Nellis AFB, NV.
In addition to U.S. aircraft, the Royal Norwegian Air Force, flying C-130Js and F-16s, and NATO, flying E-3As will participate in Red Flag 15-2.
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