RED FLAG 12-2
After nearly a one year gap, the Red Flag exercises resumed at Nellis Air Force Base on 23rd January 2012 when Red Flag 12-2 began and continued until 3rd March.
RAPCON were privileged to be invited to the Media Day held on 31st January and are indebted to our hosts at the 99ABW Public Affairs Office and the excellent access they gave us to the runways.
As usual the exercise was conducted on the vast instrumented CombatRangesnorth of Nellis and was organised by the 414th Combat Training Squadron, Nellis AFB. It followed the usual pattern of two air forces, The Blue Air Force package with AWACS, Tankers, Bombers, SEAD Fighters and defending fighters pitched against the Aggressor Squadrons of the Red Air Force. This Flag was dominated by The Boeing F-15 fighters with five different squadrons flying three different versions of the great Eagle fighter, F-15C/D, F-15K and F-15S.
BLUE AIRFORCE
960th ACCS Viking Warriers, TINKER AFB,Oklahoma, flying E-3B and E-3C AWAC aircraft
91st ARS, MACDILL AFB,FLORIDA flying 6 KC-135R Tanker Aircraft
37th BS, 28th BW, Tigers, Ellsworth AFB,South Dakota, flying 5 B-1B aircraft with one borrowed from 34th BS
131st FS, 104th FW Massachusettes ANG, Westfield AFB flying 8 F-15C/D aircraft
122nd FS, 159th FW Louisiana ANG, Bayou Militia, New Orleans JRB Flying 8 F-15C/D aircraft
The 104th and 122nd often operated together with mixed formations and were the defending fighters
4th FS Fighting Fuujins and 421st FS Blackwidows from 388th FW, Hill AFB,Utah flying 16 F-16CG/DG aircraft. These flew the SEAD missions and were equipped with a new software update which meant we were forbidden to photograph these on the media day but outside “Its a free country” as our hosts said, so only landing shots of these
416th FLTS, Skulls, Edwards AFBCalifornia Flying 4 F-16CM and CG aircraft
442nd TES, Green Bats, Nellis AFB Nevada flying 4 F-16CM aircraft. These two units flew together in mixed formations and according to a press release from Edwards they were testing M6.1 software on the F-16 which allows the carrying of AIM-20D and the Small Diameter Bomb. These are said to double the combat carrying load on F-16 and improve the Stand-off capability as well. They also carried out SEAD operations successfully.Again no photos on the Media Day
110th FS,11th FW RoKAF flying 6 F-15K aircraft. These were brand new aircraft based on the F-15E on delivery to the RoKAF and were reputed to have only 20 hours on the airframes when they arrived at Nellis. They carried the 11th FW badge on the air intakes but no squadron markings, but were said to be flown by 110th FS pilots
92nd FS RSAF flying 8 F-15S aircraft. These also are based on the F-15E and there was one borrowed aircraft from 57th FS. They carried a very varied mix of weapons on their pylons, suggesting that interdiction was their main purpose
Fighter aircraft participating in Blue Air Force, can be seen in the gallery immediately below :-
“Heavies” participating in Blue Air Force, can be seen in the gallery immediately below :-
RED AIRFORCE
65th AGRS, Nellis AFB, Nevada flying F-15C/D aircraft. These are painted in blue or sand schemes to represent SU-27 aircraft from the former Communist Bloc countries and included one new paint scheme. These will not be seen much longer as the 65th are due to stand down in the future
64th AGRS, Nellis AFB,Nevada flying F-16C/D aircraft. Again these are painted in blue or sand colour schemes to represent Mig-29 aircraft from the former Communist Bloc countries and there were 14 different aircraft in use including three with new paint schemes
The 65th and 64th fly in a manner that reflects the tactics of the former Communist Bloc air forces and unlike the other participants, if shot down are allowed to regenerate and return to the fight. Their task is to prevent the Blue Air Force from completing their tasked operation.
Red Air Force participants, together with Nellis based 66 RQS HH-60G rescue choppers can be seen in our final gallery :-
