Red Flag (maneuver)

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An F-16C as an enemy display aircraft (aggressor) during Red Flag 06-1
1S91 anti-aircraft radar and 2K12 Kub missile launch vehicle for enemy display at Red Flag Alaska 2011.

The Red Flag military maneuver has been taking place four to six times a year in the desert in the south of the American state of Nevada since 1975 , sometimes with the participation of foreign air forces . It contains a scenario that is as realistic as possible with the help of captured war material from the Warsaw Pact , mainly from the Soviet Union, such as combat aircraft and air defense positions or their search radars (e.g. SA-6, SA-3, ZSU-23-4). Furthermore, so-called aggressor squadrons are used, which fly western fighter planes (F-15E, F-16) in the livery of the enemy and use their tactics to provide the training pilot with the most realistic target possible.

Bombers fly low-level air raids on simulated positions, convoys and replica target airfields, which are realistically equipped with military equipment mainly from Soviet production and through these early warning and target acquisition radars as well as electronic countermeasures ( jammers ) create a real training environment as possible. The corresponding device was captured in wars or bought up by former brother states during or after the dissolution of the Soviet Union . This part is called the Green Flag .

The squadrons take off from Nellis Air Force Base east of Las Vegas and fly into the Nellis Range . The fighter planes form a Blue Force (allies) and a Red Force (enemy) and, among other things, practice aerial combat at sight.

F-22 Raptor during Red Flag 2013, Groom Lake in the background .

Due to its special and unusual scenario, Red Flag is considered to be one of the most important maneuvers of NATO and has thus gained a degree of awareness far beyond military and aviation circles.

Red Flag - Alaska

A similarly designed maneuver under the title Red Flag - Alaska has been taking place at the bases in Eielson and Elmendorf since 2006 , in which, from the US side, mainly forces of the Pacific Air Forces take part. It is a new edition of the Cope Thunder exercise, which was initially held over the Philippines at Clark Air Base and later in Alaska .

Individual evidence

  1. RED FLAG - ALASKA (fact sheet). (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 15, 2007 ; accessed on December 30, 2012 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.eielson.af.mil

Web links

Commons : RED FLAG Exercise  - collection of images, videos and audio files