RED FLAG-Alaska 18-2 showcases joint, coalition partnerships

This year’s second iteration of Red Flag-Alaska (RF-A), Pacific Air Forces’ premier air combat exercise, concluded at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, June 22.

RF-A is a series of commander-directed field training exercises that provide joint offensive counter-air, interdiction, close air support and large-force employment training in a simulated combat environment.

“Red Flag pays huge dividends toward increasing our interoperability,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Randy Jacobson, 354th Operations Group Detachment 1 commander. “The Indo-Pacific Region is a vitally important area of the globe, and it's critical for us to strengthen our alliances in the region. These exercises allow us to do that, while increasing the tactical skills of the aviators and ground forces who come here to participate. The ranges and airspace Alaska has to offer provide training that is unparalleled anywhere else in the world.”

RF-A provided an opportunity for integration at many levels, including among international partners from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and the Republic of Singapore Air Force, U.S. Navy and Army aviation units, as well as U.S. Army Alaska and Japan Ground Self-Defense Forces.

Some of the larger units participating included the 962nd Airborne Air Control Squadron from Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, Alaska; the 961st AACS from Kadena Air Base, Japan; JASDF E-767 and C-130 Hercules units; 36th Airlift Squadron, Yokota Air Base, Japan; and participating for the first time, JBER’s 176th Air Defense Squadron.

“In today’s culture, we never go to war alone,” said U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Mike Day, 962nd AACS superintendent. “We always have a partnership with us. Red Flag and other joint exercises build bilateral relations necessary for the strategic vision of our Air Force leaders, the President and Congress as a whole. Conducting bilateral training strengthens the resolve of all nations involved. There’s always a way to improve how you do business. When nations learn from one another, it hones our abilities and makes our partnership a stronger presence moving forward.”

The exercises often involve units whose military missions differ significantly. RF-A planners take these factors into consideration when crafting scenarios, so participants are challenged to make the best use of all skillsets available.

“As a weapons director, the significant contrast I see between operating in Alaska versus Japan is that Japan’s training and operating areas are quite a bit smaller, so having this type of grand scale for flying and controlling aircraft offers a very useful approximation of real-world operations,” said JASDF Lt. Col. Takahiro Koyama, 602d Airborne Air Control Squadron commander, Hamamatsu Air Base, Japan.

JASDF senior enlisted advisor, Warrant Officer Masahiro Yokota, visited JBER for a week to observe the JASDF enlisted corps and see how they worked alongside their international counterparts.

“The U.S./Japanese alliance is very important,” Yokota said. “The Red Flag program is continuously advancing and moving forward into the future and deeply building upon a good relationship between our nations.”

On average, more than 1,000 people and up to 60 aircraft deploy to Eielson, and an additional 500 people and 40 aircraft deploy to JBER, for each RF-A exercise. Most participating Red Flag-Alaska units arrive a week prior to the actual exercise. During that time, aircrews may fly one or two range orientation flights, make physical and mental preparations, hone up on local flying restrictions, receive local safety and survival briefings and work on developing orientation plans.

During the two-week employment phase of the exercise, aircrews are subject to every conceivable combat threat. Scenarios are shaped to meet each exercise's specific training objectives. All units are involved in the development of exercise training objectives. At the height of the exercise, up to 70 jet fighters can be operating in the same airspace at one time. Typically, RF-A conducts two combat training missions each day.

All RF-A exercises take place in the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex over Alaska. The entire airspace is made up of extensive military operations areas, special-use airspace, and ranges, for a total airspace of more than 67,000 square miles.

“A part of the tactical puzzle is organizing all these different players in an airspace that is merging and coming together at very fast speeds,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Thomas Desbiens, 354th Operations Group, Detachment 1, RF-A team chief. “Even though Alaska offers one of the largest airspaces you’ll find, it still gets very small in a hurry when there are dozens of aircraft in it.”

Aircrews aren't the only ones who benefit from the Red Flag-Alaska experience. Exercises provide an operations training environment for participants such as unit-level intelligence experts, maintenance crews and command and control elements.

By presenting scenarios using common emerging worldwide threats and simulated combat conditions, RF-A provides an opportunity to make tough calls often required in combat.

RF-A executes the world's premier tactical joint and coalition air combat employment exercise, designed to replicate the stresses that warfighters must face during their first eight to ten combat sorties. RF-A has the assets, range, and support structure to train to joint and combined war fighting doctrine against realistic and robust enemy integrated threat systems, under safe and controlled conditions.

Since its inception, thousands of service members from all branches of the U.S. military, as well as the armed services of multiple countries from around the world, have taken part in RF-A.