’Red Flag’ planners remain mindful of national strategies, as this important exercise seeks to stay relevant in order to meet the needs of its wideranging list of participants.
A LARGER AND LONGER RUNNING Exercise ‘Red Flag 18-1’ was hosted at Nellis AFB, Nevada, from January 26 through February 16. As has become standard, the first ‘Red Flag’ of the year featured US forces training exclusively alongside allies from the United Kingdom and Australia. However, much was new about this ‘Flag’, reflecting efforts to keep it relevant. The exercise is moving from tactical scenarios aimed primarily at counter-insurgency operations towards a more strategic, integrated mission set targeting near-peer adversaries.
The Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) remains the focal point for ‘Red Flag’. Seymour Johnson AFB’s 4th Fighter Wing was the lead unit for this iteration, with Col Richard Dickens — the 4th Operations Group commander — acting as the exercise’s Air Expeditionary Wing boss. ‘The opportunity to come to ‘Red Flag’ is a unique experience because we get the more robust and complex threat that we can face here’, he said. ‘It gives us more opportunities for folks to go out and lead an integrated, multi-do…
