Boom! Nellis AFB hosting Red Flag military exercises

An F-16 participating in Red Flag exercises, location and date not specified | Photo courtesy of Jon Duckworth, St. George News

Southern Utah residents may notice increased noise from military aircraft as the Air Force conducts Red Flag 22-3 from July 9 to 29.

Three B-52 Stratofortress crew chiefs assigned to the 2nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron prepare to launch a B-52 during Red Flag 21-3 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, July 20, 2021. | Photo courtesy of Senior Airman Bryan Guthrie, USAF, St. George News

The military exercise at Nellis Air Force Base will welcome almost 75 aircraft and 2,300 participants from the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marines, Space Force, Air National Guard and U.S. Air Force Reserves. 24 units will participate in complex mission scenarios against aggressor forces. This Red Flag will have an emphasis on joint-force integration.

The exercise is 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, Nellis and the NTTR are the home of a “peacetime battlefield,” providing combat air forces with the ability to train to fight together, survive together and win together.

Red Flag gives aircrews an opportunity to experience advanced, relevant, and realistic combat-like situations in a controlled environment to increase their ability to complete missions and safely return home. It also prepares maintenance personnel, ground controllers, space and cyber operators to support those missions within the same tactical environment.

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.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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