Personnel and air assets from the UK Royal Air Force (RAF) have been deployed to take part in a large-scale exercise in the US.
The Red Flag training exercise aims to assess and validate the capabilities of the participating forces to operate in a complex air combat environment.
The UK RAF has deployed a large detachment of around 300 personnel, including RAF Lossiemouth-based No. II Army Co-operation Squadron and their Typhoon fighter jets, as well as RAF Brize Norton-based No. 10 and 101 Squadron with their Voyager aircraft.
The deployed troops also include the RAF ground support personnel.
Exercise Red Flag’s latest iteration will be conducted from the USAF’s Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, US, and will continue until mid-February.
UK RAF detachment commander group captain Roger Elliott said: “After months of build-up and preparation by the Squadrons and Air A7, Exercise Red Flag is underway.
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By GlobalData“This is the most rigorous training that the Royal Air Force participates in. Everyone deployed to Nellis will learn how to do their job under the most testing conditions, in the world’s best combat training environment; this is an enormous opportunity to prepare for the most difficult operations with our US and Australian allies.”
During the exercise, the RAF’s Typhoon jets will be joined by the fighter aircraft from the US and Australian forces from the US Air Force (USAF), Navy and Marine Corps, as well as the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
The exercise will allow all the participating combat aircraft and forces to operate with simulated ground-based air defence systems and other aggressor aircraft, which will replicate various planned cyber-based and space-based adversaries and peer threats.