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Saturday, August 14, 1999
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
A WAR GAME LIKE REAL
A Cold War holdover, the Red Flag combat simulations at Nellis Air Force Base are the centerpiece of the U.S. military's goal of maintaining dominance in battle.
Review-Journal
On a large screen in a debriefing room at Air Warfare Headquarters at Nellis Air Force Base, a mock air battle unfolds that hints at the future of American and allied combat.
Video footage shows two French Mirage jets leading a squad of American F-16 fighters in an attack on a squad known only as a red force, which is defending potential bomb sites on the Nellis Air Force Range. As this battle, which actually took place last year, was replayed for reporters earlier this week, British jets on the Nellis flight line prepped for their own combat simulation run as part of the Red Flag exercise, a series of mock air wars at Nellis that is the centerpiece of the U.S. military's goal of working together with allied forces to maintain air dominance in battle.
More than 1,000 armed service men and women from eight states, the United Kingdom and Singapore are at Nellis this month, flying two simulated combat missions every day through Aug. 31.
Created in 1975 to make sure the American air superiority that had been compromised during the Vietnam War would be regained, Red Flag has outgrown its original premise of outpacing the Soviet Union, said Lt. Col. Michael Droz, the Red Flag Commander. With an air war offering fewer potential casualties and as allied nations contribute troops and money to war efforts such as in Kosovo, Red Flag air combat training may be more important than ever.
"We saw historically, from World War II to Korea to Vietnam, that our effectiveness in our kill-to-kill ratios was going down," Droz said. "The bottom line is that we weren't getting realistic war training."
Operating on a budget of $1.8 million for exercises this month, Red Flag is more than an expensive Cold War holdover. Air combat has become a cornerstone of a newly unpredictable and volatile modern world, Droz said, with jets being able to execute a quick, calculated strike, go in first to clear the way for ground troops, or fight entire wars from the air, as in Kosovo.
"That's why we're here," Droz said. "So that we can deal with any Kosovo that might come up or other conflicts that might come up. I would say that the need for this has increased since the end of the Cold War."
Though the dynamics of the U.S.-Russia relationship that created Red Flag has changed, Red Flag has not, except perhaps for the technology. Enemy forces are still called red forces; Red Flag is a reference to the former Soviet Union's national banner; and the goal is still to provide training that is as close to combat as participants can come "without facing bullets," as one Red Flag pilot put it.
As British Jaguar fighters took flight for Red Flag exercises on a busy, noisy runway this week, Red Flag pilots predictably agreed with Droz. As NATO begins to assert itself, working with allied forces and integrating combat techniques will become more important in future wars, F-16 pilot Robert Bradeen said.
"You end up figuring out the best way of working together to get a mission done," said Bradeen, a 26-year-old member of the 524th wing, nicknamed the "Hounds," stationed at Cannon Air Force Base in eastern New Mexico. "They're flying completely different planes. Different countries have different ways of taking care of business."
About 24 percent of all Red Flag trainees are foreign, Droz said. Exchanging "ideas about how they fly and how we fly" is one of the most important objectives of Red Flag, Droz said.
Though about four or five other American military bases provide Red Flag-type training, Droz said the best crews come to Nellis, which has been called "the crown jewel of air combat command."
During typical Red Flag training exercises, a force made up of visiting pilots, the blue force, takes off from Nellis and attacks positions defended by Nellis pilots, the red force.
All mock combat missions are recorded by computerized cameras that independently monitor the positions of each jet in relation to others. The battle also is recorded by radar to give an overview of the entire battlefield. Sensors pinpoint where missiles, bombs and bullets would hit if real.
"They gradually increase the threat out there. (Red forces) start getting smarter, adding surface-to-air missiles," Bradeen said. "This is as close to combat as I've got. You're trying to fly like it's a real war."
Afterwards, pilots review their exercises in a debriefing room, seeing what they did wrong, noting what could have been done instead and celebrating successful maneuvers. Droz stresses that Red Flag is not a competition, but a learning tool.
Crew Chief Dan Dostart, who has maintained and fixed fighter jets for 15 years, sees Nellis' Red Flag exercises as being in the right place at the right time. Gazing past the Nellis runway into the desert, he noted the similarities between the Nevada landscape and the rugged Middle East, where planes that he worked on dropped bombs in the 1991 Gulf War and where he sees the next military confrontations taking place.
"It's dry, it's hot, it's windy and it's sandy," Dostart said.
Droz doesn't speculate about Nevada's likeness to other parts of the world. He says the Middle East is but one of many hot zones where battle is an imminent possibility.
"(Red Flag) is only going to get bigger, and better," he said. "The need for this has intensified."
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Printable version of this story
A pair of U.S. Marine F-18s take off from Nellis Air Force Base to engage enemy forces in a mock combat exercise called Red Flag, which is being conducted all month over the Nellis Air Force Range.
Photo by Jim Laurie.
Staff Sgt. Ky Owong guides Major Anil Sankar of the Singapore Air Force as Sankar taxies to the runway in an F-16 at Nellis Air Force Base.
Photo by Jim Laurie.
A maintenance crew member rests in the shade of an F-16 fighter at Nellis Air Force Base. More than 1,000 crew members and pilots are visiting Nellis this month for Red Flag exercises.
Photo by Jim Laurie.
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