Green Flag-West 10-09 begins Aug. 8

NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- Southern Nevada and Southern California residents will see increased military aircraft activity as the U.S. Air Force hosts exercise Green Flag-West 10-09 from Aug. 8-19.

Aircraft will depart from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., twice daily for missions at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. Flying will take place Sunday through Friday both weeks. Takeoffs are scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. with flights Air to Air Refueling and landing around 5:00pm then taking off again at 7:30 p.m. to land around 10:30 p.m. The exercise flight path includes areas within Las Vegas valley, near Mount Charleston, and north of Pahrump in Nevada; as well the Mojave Desert near Fort Irwin in both Inyo and San Bernardino Counties in California.

This is the first Green Flag exercise for the Pakistani Air Force and the Royal Saudi Air Force. Their participation increases the interoperability between air forces and the ability to safely execute Close Air Support. Units from the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps regularly participate in this exercise, which takes place 10 times annually and involves anywhere from 6,000 to 9,000 troops on the ground at the NTC in addition to aircraft overhead.

Green Flag-West's realistic air-land integration and employment training prepares U.S. and allied nations for deployment and modern Close Air Support combat operations worldwide. Aircraft work out of the 549th Combat Training Squadron at Nellis while the Air Force's Battlefield Airmen work out of the 12th Combat Training Squadron at Fort Irwin.

Green Flag-West provides a large-scale training opportunity that is similar to what can be found in Afghanistan and Iraq. Joint Terminal Attack Controllers imbedded with the Army on the ground direct aircraft to provide CAS via low passes, strafing and dropping bombs on targets or providing armed escort to convoys through the 1,000-square-mile National Training Center.

Aircraft and squadrons participating in Green Flag-West 10-09 include the Pakistan Air Force's F-16s; the Royal Saudi Air Force flying F-15Ss; the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron from Nellis AFB, Nev., flying F-16s and F-15Es; the 319th Air Refueling Wing from Grand Forks AFB, N.D. flying KC-135Rs; the Civil Air Patrol's Clark County Squadron located at the North Las Vegas Airport flying C-182Qs; the 10th Air Support Operations Squadron JTACs from Fort Riley, Kansas and USMC Anglico JTACS from Camp Lejune, North Carolina.