Red Flag 12-3 Kicks Off Published Feb. 28, 2012 By Senior Airman Jack Sanders Nellis Public Affairs NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- Red Flag 12-3 begins Feb. 27-March 16, 2012. The exercise will include 12 different U.S. Squadrons accompanied by units from the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom. Red Flag is a realistic combat training exercise designed to help train pilots from U.S. and allied forces to fight together, survive together and win together. During the exercise more than 70 aircraft are scheduled to depart Nellis twice a day, around midday and again in the evening. Aircraft may remain in the air for up to eight hours. The flying times are scheduled to accommodate the other flying missions at Nellis and provide Red Flag participants with valuable training in planning and executing a wide variety of combat missions. The exercise is organized at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., and hosted north of Las Vegas on the Nevada Test and Training Range--the U.S. Air Force's premier military training area with more than 12,000 square miles of airspace and 2.9 million acres of land. With 1,900 possible targets, realistic threat systems and an opposing enemy force that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world. The 414th Combat Training Squadron is responsible for executing Red Flag and this exercise is just one of a series of advanced training programs administered at Nellis and on the NTTR by organizations assigned to the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center. The exercise will include the following U.S. aircraft: EP-3 Airborne Reconnaissance Integrated Electronic System, EA-6B Prowler, E-2D Hawkeye, F-15C Eagle, F-22 Raptor, B-2 Spirit, F-16CM and F-16CJ Fighting Falcon, F/A-18 Hornet, E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, E-3 Sentry, F-15E Strike Eagle, and RC-135V/W Rivet Joint. In addition to U.S. aircraft, the Royal Australian Air Force will be flying F/A-18 Hornet and the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom will be flying the GR-4 Panavia Tornado.
