South Korean pilots training during Red Flag exercises at Nellis

A bevy of South Korean pilots flew out of Nellis Air Force Base in their brand new F-15K fighter jets Wednesday, heading over the range to the north to practice dropping bombs during a Red Flag training exercise.

The Nevada Test and Training Range with 2.9 million acres of land and 5,000 square miles of air space is the largest in the free world for conducting peacetime air-combat operations.

The range offers "a different situation than the Korean peninsula," said Col. Jaehoon "Jade" Yoon, commander of the Republic of Korea's Red Flag team from the country's 11th Fighter Wing.

There isn't much room in his homeland where fighter pilots can get realistic training without risking war in the F-15Ks, the newest type of F-15E Strike Eagle and the only U.S.-produced fighter capable of long-range strikes with precision bombs and laser-guided missiles, according to Boeing's website. The twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter is a McDonnell Douglas design now produced by Boeing.

"The Korean peninsula is too tiny with too many people, so it's difficult to drop munitions" for training, Yoon told reporters and aviation trade journalists who gathered at the Nellis flight line Wednesday.

Yoon said the biggest challenge his air force faces is protecting seas and coasts east and west of the peninsula. He said the Republic of Korea's fighter jet fleet has "not yet" had to ward off any North Korean intruder aircraft.

A translator, 2nd Lt. Jeehun Choi, said Red Flag is important for its alliance with the U.S. Air Force "and to make sure the Korean air force can work as a role player" in the exercise.

"We have to be ready for attack. Through this we can strengthen the alliance," he said.

Choi said more than 80 personnel including two dozen pilots picked up the six F-15Ks from Boeing's facility in St. Louis. The two-seater jets were flown in for the Red Flag exercise that began Jan. 23. The Republic of Korea pilots took turns trying out the jets, but they will be flown to the Republic of Korea by Boeing pilots.

The F-15Ks and a contingent of pilots from the Royal Saudi Air Forces in eight F-15S jets joined U.S. airmen from Nevada, Utah, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Louisiana and South Dakota in the Red Flag exercise, which ends today.

The 414th Combat Training Squadron at Nellis works with international partners who are invited to Red Flag to create unique air-to-air combat scenarios. Jets from the 64th and 65th aggressor squadrons at Nellis simulate common threats faced by allied warplanes, which use the range to attack mock airfields, vehicle convoys, tanks and bunkers and would-be missile sites.

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.