The realistic air combat training exercise Red Flag involving United States and its allies has commenced at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Red Flag, which began in 1975, and will conclude on Feb. 13.
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.
More than 125 aircraft will depart Nellis twice a day and aircraft may remain in the air for up to five hours.
This exercise will include aircraft from 21 different U.S. Air Force squadrons; C-130Js, P-3s from the Royal Australian Air Force; and Typhoons, F-15Cs and E-3Ds from the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force.
USAF is fielding its fifth generation F-22 Raptor, B-2 stealth bomber, EA-18 Growler, F-16, F\A-18 fighters, U-2 reconaisance aircraft, C-130 Hercules and derivatives, E-3C airborne control aircraft etc.
Since 1975, Red Flag has provided training for more than 440,000 military personnel, including more than 145,000 aircrew members flying more than 385,000 sorties and logging more than 660,000 hours of flying time.
The USAF' 414th Combat Training Squadron assigned to the 57th Wing is responsible for executing the exercise.
