Red Flag-Alaska 19-3 kicks off Aug. 1

  • Published
  • By Pacific Air Forces
  • Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs

Red Flag-Alaska 19-3, a Pacific Air Forces-sponsored exercise designed to provide realistic training in a simulated combat environment, is scheduled to begin Aug. 1 with primary flight operations over the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex (JPARC) and is scheduled to run through Aug. 16.

Approximately 1,500 service members are expected to fly, maintain and support more than 100 aircraft from more than two dozen units during this iteration of the exercise. In addition to the U.S., service members from the U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) are scheduled to participate, enabling them to exchange tactics, techniques and procedures while improving interoperability with fellow airmen. The majority of aircraft will be based at, and fly from, Eielson Air Force Base and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

RED FLAG-Alaska exercises provide unique opportunities to integrate various forces in a realistic threat environment and dates back to 1975 when it was held at Clark Air Base in the Philippines and called exercise COPE THUNDER.