NAFB Intelligence Squadrons integral to Red Flag Success

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kevin Tanenbaum
  • 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

Whether it is analyzing imagery, producing tactical intelligence reports, or working with aggressor  squadrons to ensure the highest training standards are met, it is difficult to find an area of Red Flag in which the 365th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Group doesn’t play a part.

Red Flag is one of the most comprehensive training exercises the Air Force executes, requiring coordination not only internally with U.S. Air Force and joint flying squadrons but also amongst a multitude of partner nations. It also provides aircrews and ISR participants the experience of multiple, intensive air combat sorties in a fast-paced, high-end environment.

Each unit, foreign or domestic, comes to Red Flag with specific training objectives that they aren’t able to meet at their home station.  The 365th ISRG works in conjunction with all Red Flag organizations in order to create a contested, degraded and operationally limited environment to validate joint and coalition operations and make it a successful training experience for all.

Two of the ISR group’s Nellis-based units, the 547th and 526th Intelligence Squadrons not only strive to fulfill their mission of delivering expert analysis of adversary weapons and tactics for the mission areas of air and air defense, cruise and ballistic missiles, and space and ISR capabilities during the exercise, but they also coordinate with other organizations in order to make Red Flag successful. 

The 547th and 526th missions overlap during the exercise but their independent responsibilities could not be more different.

As such, the 547th IS prepares intelligence on adversary tactics and threat analysis for the operational environment and high-end fight like a major combat operation.  

“The 547th IS focuses on training and supporting flying units, specifically the fighters and bombers that are coming out (for the exercise),” said Captain Noah, 547th IS commander of exercises flight.  “We train the [intelligence] participants for Red Flag and we help the 414th Combat Training Squadron.”

Following Air Force policy that protects the full identity of ISR Airmen, last names are not used.

The 547th works in conjunction with the 414th CTS to build the overall scenario and the intelligence that feeds the storyline of Red Flag,  explained Noah.

The responsibilities of the 547th are integral to the success of Red Flag because the content-dominant intelligence they produce gives friendly forces insight into adversary tactics and threats, and their sister squadron’s mission contribution to the exercise’s success is just as valuable.

As the Air Force lead for advanced ISR training and integration, the 526th IS takes full advantage of the teaching opportunity that Red Flag provides by stretching the intelligence analysts’ time-dominant, intelligence-producing limits. From inside the Distributed Ground System, these analysts rapidly access and analyze information collected by the airborne sensors in real time.  

“Our bread and butter is that we host the DGS participants on our operations floor,” said Capt. Robert, 526th IS assistant director of operations. “They include, at the Airman level, the geospatial analysts, or the guys looking at the screen and making callouts of what they see. Then above them you’ll have an imagery mission supervisor who will observe that section of GAs and then you’ll also have a work flow manager tasking imagery as they come down.”

As compared to content-dominant intelligence that is produced over time and usually requires multiple layers of data and coordination and is prepared for operations that may not happen, time-dominant intelligence is produced and distributed to combatant commanders in response to rapidly unfolding situations. This enables airmen to rapidly detect, locate and target simulated threats during Red Flag in a process known as “find, fix and finish.” 

Overall the exercise’s fast-pace drives the analysts’ abilities to excel at their position and push the information out to the warfighter quickly, said Robert.

While these heavy responsibilities make up the missions of the 547th and the 526th, they barely begin to scratch the surface of everything the squadrons do, and who they collaborate with during Red Flag.

Several organizations prepare and host the complex exercise for the training audience. These organizations play what is known as a white force role. Robert explained the 414th CTS “acts as the center point” as the lead unit for the exercise. The 505th Test Squadron, he noted, “manages the live war and other constructive world that is more than just the flying portion.” Detailed exercise planning with these units begins nearly six months prior to exercise start.

In the end, the 526 IS and 547 IS coordinate and create a challenging environment for ISR airmen who can then provide cutting edge analysis to enable high-fidelity airpower missions. These two units are integral to making Red Flag a premier, advanced training opportunity for airmen and coalition partners, paving the way to victory over the adversary in the most dangerous warfighting scenarios imaginable.




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