In Flight USA Article Categories
In Flight USA Articles
As Nellis AFB Grounds Aircraft, Training Goes Virtual
By Staff Sgt. Gregory Brook
99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 64th Aggressor Squadron takes off from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., to participate in a Joint Forcible Entry exercise over the Nevada Test and Training Range May 31, 2013. Under the Air Combat Command stand down that took effect June 1, the aggressors will be grounded through the end of the fiscal year. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Daniel Hughes) The skies over southern Nevada are quieter than they have been in quite some time due to the June 1 Air Combat Command directed stand down of flying operations.
Despite the stand down, the 64th Aggressor Squadron remains committed to accomplishing their mission, said Lt. Col. Michael Shepherd, the 64th AGRS academic assistant director of operations.
“Our motto is ‘know, teach and replicate,’” Shepherd said. “As Aggressors, we are subject matter experts in a field of adversary tactics or systems anywhere from airplanes to missiles to actual tactics to electronic attacks.”
The 64th AGRS is assigned to the 57th Adversary Tactics Group at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Their primary mission is to provide support to the U.S. Air Force Weapons School, Red Flag exercises, the various test and evaluation squadrons and to provide training to units in the Combat Air Force on adversary tactics.
Red Flag: "The First Ten Missions"
By Richard VanderMeulen
Tasked with the SEAD or Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses role an F-16CJ Viper of the 20th Fighter Wing, Shaw AFB, SC bristles with armaments. On the wingtips are a pair of AIM-120 AMRAAMs for use against enemy aircraft, inboard are an AIM-9 Sidewinder for close-in self defense against enemy aircraft on the right wing and an ACMI pod capable of constantly updating the aircraft’s position on the range complex. Further inboard is the primary armament, an AGM-88 HARM (High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile) used to destroy enemy radar sites. Under the nose is carried a HARM targeting pod and Lantirn laser designator pod for identifying targets at a distance and designating them with a laser for precision guided bombs. (Richard VanderMeulen)
Red Flag tracks its existence and basic format to lessons learned during the Vietnam War, when United States Air Force analysts noted a dramatic drop in mission survivability and dropping success rates among USAF pilots. According to past Red Flag sources, “After Vietnam we figured out that if you survived the first ten missions your chance of survival went up dramatically. Red Flag simulates the first ten missions a pilot flies in combat.” Red Flag however allows pilots to fly those first ten missions in a learning environment where the only missiles they face are represented in computer models and the closest they come to dying is hearing “you’re dead” on the radio.