Red Flag exercises, involving 80 aircraft, begin in Las Vegas

A military exercise conducted over the southern Nevada desert will involve about 80 aircraft and include night launches and other activity producing increased noise heard by nearby residents.

Nellis Air Force Base officials’ announcement Friday of the training exercise dubbed Red Flag 19-1 says it starts Saturday and will run until Feb. 15.

The announcement says the exercise gives aircraft crews “an opportunity to experience advanced, relevant, and realistic combat-like situations in a controlled environment to increase their survivability in actual combat operations.”