Photo By Senior Airman Rebecca Sirimarco-Lang | U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler from Electronic Attack Squadron 135 from Naval Air Station...... read more read more
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EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska – The 77th Air Refueling Squadron assigned to the 916th Air Refueling Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, take part in Red Flag-Alaska (RF-A) 24-3 here, Aug. 15 to Aug. 30, 2024.
Red Flag-Alaska is a Pacific Air Forces directed training exercise that is conducted on the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex, which is more than 77,000 square miles. This allows participants to join forces to strengthen joint planning, communion and combat readiness.
RF-A 24-3 brought together approximately 1,800 service members to improve airpower capabilities. During the two-week exercise, combat training missions are conducted each day, providing service members the opportunity to engage in realistic scenarios, sharpening their skill sets so that the U.S. and its partners remain ready.
"Exercises like Red Flag provide realistic combat experience, within a dynamic and complex operational environment,” said Air Force Reserve Col. Diane Patton, 916th Air Refueling Wing commander. “Our crews and support personnel integrate both Reserve Citizen Airmen and Active Duty Airmen into scenarios that are challenging and engage multiple threats that bolster their capabilities not only with tanker and airlift generation, but as an enabling force for the joint services. Working together with our partners provides the critical "hands-on/eyes-on" experience that builds repetition and familiarity that fuel the next fight."
Briefs conducted before and after the exercise, and daily throughout, are used to disseminate information and lessons learned. Red Flag participants wouldn’t be successful without the hard work done by various Airmen and civilians who work to plan, analyze, and distribute all types of vital information. Personnel, air traffic control, airfield management and safety specialists, as well as planners, are just a few of the supporting career fields dedicating their specialized training to support large exercises like RF-A.
“Briefings are nearly the main focus of the entire Red Flag exercise. The planning briefings consume an enormous amount of time and effort the day prior to execution,” said 1st Lt. Erick Frey, 911th Air Refueling Squadron. “ For these planning briefings, team leads from each participating airframe and ground team in that specific scenario follow a regimented planning schedule to painstakingly hash out every detail and contingency that can arise, including using video teleconference to include other players from dislocated units. There are also several hours of post-scenario briefings in which all team leads not only review the actions conducted during the scenario and their associated results, but there also exists a heightened focus on understanding why any shortcomings occurred and how to specifically avoid them in the future.”
RF-A is the ideal exercise for international engagement that enables all involved to exchange tactics, techniques and procedures while improving interoperability.
| Date Taken: | 08.22.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.10.2024 14:08 |
| Story ID: | 480507 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 72 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Red Flag-Alaska bolsters combat airpower interoperability, by SrA Rebecca Sirimarco-Lang, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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