AIR FORCE PERSONNEL RETURN HOME FROM EXERCISE IN UNITED STATES

Group Captain Gavin Davies, the Officer Commanding Number 82 Wing, Royal Australian Air Force, and Major Kristin Goodwin of the US Air Force Expeditionary Force Command Core Staff, plan missions for Exercise Red Flag.
Air Force personnel from Amberley in Queensland and Williamtown in New South Wales have completed two weeks of the most realistic and demanding tactical flying training available in the world.

Designed to not only test but also teach aircrews through a rigorous program of day and night missions against an array of ground threats and adversary air, the Air Combat Group (ACG) participants in this Exercise Red Flag again showed that they can be an effective part of a coalition team.

For Group Captain Gavin Davies, Officer Commanding 82 Wing, Red Flag 06 offered a realistic scenario of what might be encountered on the modern battlefield.

"The best results were achieved when Strike, Fighter, Electronic Warfare, Suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD), Tankers and Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft were networked to achieve highly complicated mission effects," he said.

Three deployed pilots and one navigator were tasked as mission commanders during Red Flag 06 and performed exceptionally well in this high-pressure role.

The coordination of up to eighty aircraft to deliver live, inert and simulated weapons onto a set of targets contained in an area no bigger than Australia's own Delamere range in the Northern Territory is a tremendous challenge.

Group Captain Davies was the first to praise the efforts of the mission commanders. "Defeating surface to air missile systems forming a real world Integrated Air Defence System (IADS) while keeping aggressor squadron F16, F15 and F5 fighters off your back and deconflicting your own force can become a complicated affair," he said.

Group Captain Davies also said the aircrew could not have met all the training objectives without a superb effort from the maintenance and support teams from 3 Squadron and 1 Squadron. Overall, mission generation was an outstanding 97%.

In recognition of their great work, 12 of the Australian personnel were presented with an outstanding achievement award from Colonel Robert Wheeler, the Expeditionary Force Commander.

Group Captain Davies also thanked host nation, the United States, in a small ceremony on the 17th February 06. "It was a pleasure to work with the different countries involved.

The abundance of lessons to be taken away from this deployment will help us shape our training tomorrow and influence the evolution of our networked Air Force."

Personnel who participated in Exercise Red Flag will return home in stages from the 18th February with aircraft arriving in Australia on the 22nd and 24th February 06.

Australia participates in Red Flag approximately every two years as part of a long term tactical training program necessary to maintain combat skills and readiness levels.

F/A-18 Hornet from Number 3 Squadron parked on the tarmac with an F-16 from Nellis Air Force base coming into land in the background.
(Date taken: 07 February 2006)

F/A-18 Hornets from Number 3 Squadron parked on the tarmac

A8-147, an F-111 being flown to the United States for Exercise Red Flag 06, moments after takeoff from RAAF Base Amberley. (Date taken: 27 January 2006)