Red Flag Exercise

Red Flag Flag (Red Flag) Exercise is a two-week advanced aerial combat training exercise conducted several times a year by the United States Air Force. The primary objective of the exercise is to provide realistic aerial combat training for military pilots and other flight crew members from the United States, NATO, and other allied nations.

Four or six Red Flag Exercises are held annually at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada; four additional exercises known as Red Flag-Alaska are conducted at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska.

^{Aerial view of Nellis Air Force Base [1]}

First conducted in 1975, the mission of the Red Flag Exercise is to maximize participants’ combat readiness and survivability by providing a realistic training environment and fostering an open forum for pre- and post-flight debriefings and free exchange of ideas. To this end, combat units from the United States and allied nations participate in carefully orchestrated realistic combat training scenarios within the Nellis Range Complex. The Nellis Range Complex is located northwest of Las Vegas and covers an area of approximately 60 by 100 nautical miles (about 21,090 km²).

In a typical Red Flag Exercise, Blue Forces (friendly) engage in combat simulations against Red Forces (enemy).

Blue Forces consist of aviation units from the Air Combat Command, Air Mobility Command, Air Force Global Strike Command, Air Force Special Operations Command, United States Air Forces in Europe, Pacific Air Forces, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve Command, and Air Force Space Command, as well as the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and United States Army. These units are commanded by a Blue Force commander who coordinates them under an “employment plan.”

Red Forces are composed of the 57th Wing’s 57th Adversary Tactics Group (57 ATG), which simulates enemy tactics by flying F-16 and F-15 aircraft. The adversary unit is also supported by other U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps units equipped with electronic warfare, communications, and radar jamming systems. During the exercise, the 527th Space Aggressor Squadron (527 SAS) and the 26th SAS simulate battlefield challenges such as GPS jamming.

A key component of the Red Flag Exercise is the Red Flag Measurement and Debriefing System (RFMDS), a computer hardware and software network that enables real-time monitoring, post-mission replay of maneuvers and tactics, participant tracking, and integration of range targets and simulated threats. After the exercise, Blue Force commanders objectively evaluate mission performance, with analysis derived from RFMDS data providing validation.

^{Example of the NACTS system from the 2004 film Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag}

Each Red Flag Exercise includes a variety of missions such as air interdiction, strike/attack, air superiority, suppression of enemy air defenses, air refueling, aerial reconnaissance, and intelligence gathering. Over a 12-day period, more than 500 aircraft conduct over 20,000 sorties, training more than 5,000 aircrew and over 14,000 support and maintenance personnel.

Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Japan, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Morocco, Republic of China, Thailand, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Venezuela

Turkey’s most recent participation in a Red Flag Exercise occurred between 29 February and 11 March 2016. The exercise involved approximately 23 units representing the United States Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and NATO partners including the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force) and the Turkish Air Force (TSK). Participating units operated from Nellis AFB in Las Vegas and trained over the 2.9 million acre land area and 12,000 square mile airspace provided by the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR).

A total of approximately 75 aircraft (and 1,700 personnel) participated, including eight Italian Eurofighter Typhoons (or F-2000A in Italy), six F-16s, and two KC-135R tankers from the Turkish Air Force—marking the first Red Flag participation for the Italian Typhoons. On the U.S. side, F-16CM, F-15E, F-15C, E-3G, various helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (MQ-9), tankers (KC-135R), special mission aircraft, and two of the three Global Strike Command bombers, B-52H and B-1B, were deployed. The wide variety of aircraft reflects the typical composition of a coalition force in combat.

In RF 17-1, the first Red Flag Exercise to include the F-35, thirteen F-35A aircraft in Block 3i configuration participated. These F-35s, in Block 3i configuration, could internally carry only two AMRAAMs and two GBU-12/31 munitions. During the exercise, F-22s and F-35s operated as Blue Forces against F-16s as Red Forces. The F-35s completed the exercise with 145 enemy kills and only seven losses, equating to roughly one loss for every 20 enemy aircraft. Then-34th Fighter Squadron Commander and F-35 pilot Lieutenant Colonel George Watkings described the outcome as “On our first day here we flew our first defensive air combat mission and did not lose a single friendly aircraft—it was unheard of.” All friendly losses occurred within visual range, where aircraft were detected visually rather than by radar. Additionally, the exercise took place in a high-threat environment with integrated air defense systems (IADS) operating surface-to-air systems. In such an environment, the F-35 flew without issue, unlike fourth-generation fighters, achieving excellent success.

Four years after its first Red Flag participation, in Red Flag 24-1 from 18 April to 3 May 2024, Italian Air Force F-35s flew for the first time without radar reflectors—in stealth mode. Radar reflectors are used to make low-observable aircraft like the F-35 visible to radar and are typically fitted during training and peacetime operations. Without them, F-35s fly with their lowest possible radar signature, fully leveraging their low observability capabilities while engaging in high-fidelity tactical scenarios against simulated and realistic threats in an unconstrained airspace.

Colonel Bernard summarized the exercise as “This is about bringing your team together and making 1 + 1 = 3 by using every capability to its fullest.”

^{2016, cockpit video footage from Red Flag Exercise [2]}

^{Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. A Turkish F-16C prepares for the Red Flag Alaska Exercise on 17 July 2007. [3]}

^{Turkish Air Force KC-135R aircraft from the 10 TU 101st Squadron at Incirlik, preparing to depart Türkiye for Red Flag 16-2. [4]}