{"id":1832,"date":"2012-02-02T16:42:16","date_gmt":"2012-02-02T16:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rapcon.org\/?p=1832"},"modified":"2016-04-06T16:52:08","modified_gmt":"2016-04-06T15:52:08","slug":"red-flag-2012-2-nellis-afb-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rapcon.org\/?p=1832","title":{"rendered":"Red Flag 2012-2 Nellis AFB"},"content":{"rendered":"

RED FLAG 12-2<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

After nearly a one year gap, the Red Flag exercises resumed at Nellis Air Force Base on 23rd<\/sup> January 2012 when Red Flag 12-2 began and continued until 3rd<\/sup> March.<\/p>\n

RAPCON were privileged to be invited to the Media Day held on 31st<\/sup> January and are indebted to our hosts at the 99ABW Public Affairs Office and the excellent access they gave us to the runways.<\/p>\n

As usual the exercise was conducted on the vast instrumented CombatRangesnorth of Nellis and was organised by the 414th<\/sup> 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.<\/p>\n

BLUE AIRFORCE<\/strong><\/p>\n

960th<\/sup> ACCS Viking Warriers<\/strong>, TINKER AFB,Oklahoma, flying E-3B and E-3C AWAC aircraft<\/p>\n

91st<\/sup> ARS, MACDILL AFB<\/strong>,FLORIDA flying 6 KC-135R Tanker Aircraft<\/p>\n

37th<\/sup> BS, 28th<\/sup> BW, Tigers, Ellsworth AFB<\/strong>,South Dakota, flying 5 B-1B aircraft with one borrowed from 34th BS<\/p>\n

131st<\/sup> FS, 104th<\/sup> FW Massachusettes ANG, Westfield AFB<\/strong> flying 8\u00a0 F-15C\/D aircraft<\/p>\n

122nd<\/sup> FS, 159th<\/sup> FW Louisiana ANG, Bayou Militia, New Orleans JRB<\/strong> Flying 8 F-15C\/D aircraft<\/p>\n

The 104th<\/sup> and 122nd<\/sup> often operated together with mixed formations and were the defending fighters<\/p>\n

4th<\/sup> FS Fighting Fuujins and 421st<\/sup> FS Blackwidows from 388th<\/sup> FW, Hill AFB<\/strong>,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 \u201cIts a free country\u201d as our hosts said, so only landing shots of these<\/p>\n

416th<\/sup> FLTS,\u00a0 Skulls, Edwards AFB<\/strong>California Flying 4\u00a0 F-16CM and CG aircraft<\/p>\n

442nd<\/sup> TES, Green Bats, Nellis<\/strong> AFB<\/strong> 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<\/p>\n

110th<\/sup> FS,11th<\/sup> FW RoKAF<\/strong> 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<\/sup> FW badge on the air intakes but no squadron markings, but were said to be flown by 110th<\/sup> FS pilots<\/p>\n

92nd<\/sup> FS RSAF<\/strong> flying 8 F-15S aircraft. These also are based on the F-15E and there was one borrowed aircraft from 57th<\/sup> FS. They carried a very varied mix of weapons on their pylons, suggesting that interdiction was their main purpose<\/p>\n

Fighter aircraft participating in Blue Air Force, can be seen in the gallery immediately below :-<\/strong><\/p>\n

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