The Red Flag exercises, held at the Nellis Air Force Base since 1975, are about as realistic as you can get away from real combat operations, and are an invaluable tool to train crew for “real world” operations and are hosted by the 414th Combat Training Squadron.

Live ammunition is used and all facets of combat are realised including air-to-air combat, electronic countermeasures, air superiority, strike attack, close air support, combat search and rescue, in-flight refuelling and Airborne Early Warning (AEW). Missions are flow both during the and at night.

Put simply the Red Flag forces are usually split into two teams - the Blue team (good guys) and the Red Team or aggressors (the bad guys).

The Red Team usually sets up at the west side of the Nellis Ranges, while the Blue Team sets up in the east. The Blue Team’s objective is to bomb targets while the Red Team has to keep them from getting to their targets.

Although the majority of the aircraft are supplied and flow by US personnel, coalition forces often attend, and this particular period included the Royal Air Force (RAF) with Tornado GR.4’s and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) with F-111C Aardvarks.

Thanks, as ever, go to Capt. Justin McVay and Mike Estrada for their outstanding hospitallity, and to Flight Lieutenant Lauretta Webster (ACG PAO) from the RAAF for access to the F-111 ramp.