More planes to fill sky
Military aircraft from Nellis and Creech Air Force bases will thunder through the skies of Southern Nevada beginning today and through July 23 to provide air support for a Green Flag combat exercise at Fort Irwin in Southern California.
Dubbed Green Flag West, the exercise is a joint effort of the 549th Combat Training Squadron at Nellis and the 12th Combat Training Squadron at Fort Irwin, Nellis officials said Thursday.
The missions will take place between 3 p.m. and midnight every day except Saturdays from Sunday through July 23. The flight path from Nellis to Fort Irwin includes parts of the north Las Vegas Valley, Mount Charleston and areas north of Pahrump.
Squadrons of F-16 Fighting Falcons, E-3 Sentries, MQ-9 Reaper and MQ-1 Predator unmanned aircraft and KC-10 Extenders will depart Nellis and the Creech base, 45 miles northwest of Las Vegas to work with attack controllers embedded in the Army's 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Irwin.
Friendly ground forces consisting of 400 armored and support vehicles and more than 6,000 soldiers will face an opposing force at Fort Irwin's National Training Center under conditions similar to those in Southwest Asia, Nellis officials said Thursday.
Green Flag West will overlap at times with a Red Flag air combat training exercise over the sprawling Nellis training range, north of the Las Vegas Valley.
The previously announced Red Flag exercise begins Monday and runs through July 24. Nellis officials on Thursday revised the times that dozens of warplanes will fly from Nellis Air Force Base. The planes will depart Nellis twice a day, between 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m., and at 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
