Red Flag-Alaska prepares for take off

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jack Sanders
  • 3rd Wing Public Affairs
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Red Flag-Alaska 10-2 is scheduled for April 15-30.

Elmendorf and the surrounding areas can expect to see an increase in air traffic during that time frame.

RF-A is an exercise that has taken place at Elmendorf and Eielson AFBs since 1992. The event is a realistic 10-day air combat training exercise held up to four times a year.

"The purpose of Red Flag is to train the youngest wingman all the way up to the veteran mission commander to go through their first 10 missions of combat," said Maj. Gavin Peterson, chief of fighter operations for Det. 1 Red Flag-Alaska.

In the past, leaders noticed high casualty rates in deployed combat especially with younger aircrews, said Maj. Peterson. As a result the Red Flag exercises were initiated as a preventative, training experience.

The youngest flyers nicknamed "blue four" have the least combat experience. RF-A's primary mission is to take the blue four and bring them up to the level they need to be at to survive in a combat situation, said Maj. Peterson.

Apart from giving pilots a chance to practice for deployed missions, RF-A is a large beneficial training opportunity for maintainers as well.

Much like the "blue four" in the flying aspect of the mission the "blue two" is the youngest maintainer with little to no combat experience participating in the exercise.

"Red Flag teaches them how to uproot from home training, and go into a hostile environment and operate and still execute the mission flawlessly," said Capt. Arnold Bowen, maintenance operations officer for the Det. 1 Red Flag-Alaska.

Exercise players are arriving in the area from bases across the world.

For this exercise F-15s from the 67th Fighter Squadron and E-3s from the 961st Airborne Air Control Squadron, from Kadena AFB along with F-22s from the 525th Fighter Squadron and C-17s from the 517th Airlift squadron from Elmendorf AFB will be practicing here. The community can expect to see an increase in air traffic over the skies of Anchorage said the major.