Red Flag-Nellis 23-1 kicks off

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Cydnie Williams
  • 57th Wing Public Affairs

The first Red Flag-Nellis exercise of 2023 is underway. Close to 100 aircraft and 3,000 coalition service members have arrived to participate in the large force air combat training exercise centered on readiness and interoperability between joint and allied forces.

“In our 48th year Red Flag, participants will build confidence under fire, integrated leadership, and a warfighter culture that will win our nation’s fights,” said Col. Jared Hutchinson, 414th Combat Training Squadron commander. “Each flag pushes state of the art to a new level by building on the efforts of previous Red Flags. In this iteration, the allied force will be presented with many new and emerging real-world tactical problems.”

Aligning with the 2022 National Defense Strategy, Red Flag-Nellis 23-1 will focus on the Indo-Pacific Theater and the pacing challenge alongside our allied partners.

“Our allies are one of the greatest strategic assets we have in protecting our nations,” said Hutchinson.

In addition to U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marines, Space Force and Air National Guard, participants will include forces from partner nations, such as the Royal Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force.

This long-standing, large force exercise provides service members with experience and opportunities to learn in a safe training environment.

“This year is expected to be challenging as it prioritizes young operators,” said Hutchinson, “it enables them to learn in the world’s best combat training environment while writing the next chapter of our resilient heritage.”

Nellis has hosted Red Flag exercises since 1975 to provide aircrews the experience of multiple, intensive air combat sorties in the safety of a realistic training environment. The training occurs at Nellis AFB and on the Nevada Test and Training Range, the U.S. Air Force's premier military training area with more than 12,000 square miles of airspace and 2.9 million acres of land.