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        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      A U.S. Air Force 18th Aggressor Squadron F-16 Fighting Falcon takes-off for a training sortie as part of the Red Flag 22-2 exercise at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, June 16, 2022. The Aggressors are dedicated to playing the “red team” adversaries against “blue team” allies during Red Flag aerial training missions. The Red Flag Exercise was established in 1975 and serves as a two-week advanced aerial combat training exercise held multiple times a year by the USAF, alongside joint partner and allied air and ground forces. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Ryan Lackey)A U.S. Air Force 18th Aggressor Squadron F-16 Fighting Falcon takes off for a training sortie during Red Flag 22-2 at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, June 16, 2022. The Aggressors are dedicated to playing the role of adversaries against allies during Red Flag’s aerial training missions. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Ryan Lackey)
                
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Red Flag-Alaska 22-2 draws to a closePublished June 28, 2022
                    
                    By Staff Sgt. Ryan Lackey
                    
                    
                    374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
            **EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AFNS) --**An Airman carries a hose.Senior Airman Nathen Sanchez, 18th Logistics Readiness Squadron fuels distribution operator, carries a refueling hose to an F-15 Eagle during a hot-pit refueling at Kadena Air Base, Japan, June 14, 2022. Hot-pit refueling uses a single-point refuel pump which allows an aircraft to be refueled immediately after landing with the engine running. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Sebastian Romawac)
            
            
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**Eielson Air Force Base** have racked up thousands of combined flying hours for pilots and kept maintainers working around the clock to keep more than 40 fighter aircraft ready to fly day after day with limited facilities and supplies.
Red Flag exercises are designed to simulate a deployment to a contested environment, where the battlefield strategy demands a high operations tempo and necessitates innovation, determination, and teamwork to stay ahead of ever-changing mission needs.
“Pilots, maintainers and support staff are standing a little taller knowing that they came here to play and are going home winners,” said Col. Matthew Gaetke, 51st Operations Group commander and Red Flag-Alaska 22-2 flight commander. “Day one was rough. We pressed these people hard to deal with conditions they weren’t used to, but with every sortie, they learned a little more and worked together a bit better, and now in the final days here, this joint-force team is a well-oiled machine that keeps making the mission happen no matter what is thrown at them.”
Held at the Joint Pacific Alaskan Range Complex, the landscape is the ideal environment to train aviators and ground personnel deployed combat tactics, with over 77,000 square miles of airspace and terrain to test individual and complex joint-engagement skills, practice weapons usage over three bomb ranges and ground training areas.A C-130 lifts up off of a dirt runway.A C-130J Super Hercules assigned to the 36th Airlift Squadron, Yokota Air Base, Japan, performs dirt strip operations at Donnelly Training Area, Alaska, in support of Red Flag-Alaska 22-2, June 17, 2022. The exercise provided unique opportunities to integrate various forces into joint, coalition and multilateral training from simulated forward operating bases. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Patrick Sullivan)
            
            
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    An Airman sits on the open ramp of a C-130 as it flies over mountains.First Lt. Ciera White, an intelligence officer assigned to the 71st Rescue Squadron, Moody Air Force Base, Ga., flies in a HC-130J Combat King II over the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex during a sortie for Red Flag-Alaska 22-2, June 17, 2022. The JPARC airspace covers more than 77,000 square miles and provides a realistic training environment, allowing Airmen to train for full-spectrum engagements, ranging from individual skills to complex, large-scale joint engagements. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Patrick Sullivan)
            
            
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    Two men observe a C-130 flying away.Joint terminal attack controllers support airfield operations at Donnelly Training Area, Alaska, for Red Flag-Alaska 22-2, June 17, 2022. The exercise provided unique opportunities to integrate various forces into joint, coalition and multilateral training from simulated forward operating bases. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Patrick Sullivan)
            
            
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While pilots flying fighter aircraft may be the tip of the spear for a joint-force team, its maintainers that hold that spear up high, as the continuous high stress of flying aircraft day after day will show wear and tear as parts break or safety concerns develop that would ground an aircraft without maintenance.
“For each pilot and aircraft, there are dozens of maintainers behind the scenes keeping that bird flying reliably,” said Lt. Col. Scott Kubalek, 51st Munitions Squadron and Red Flag-Alaska 22-2 maintenance commander. “These pilots do amazing work, but the maintainer Airmen working through the night to fix a broken aircraft so it can fly the next day are real heroes.”
Eielson AFB has its own mission of maintaining fifth generation, strategic airpower that is separate from the exercise and the visiting squadrons. Sharing limited facilities and resources necessary to keep dozens of aircraft flying maneuvers each day creates a realistic deployed situation that necessitates innovation.U.S. Army Paratroopers, Air Force joint terminal attack controller and Special Tactic Operators board a C-17 Globemaster III from the 517th Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, June 15, 2022 during RED FLAG-Alaska 22-2. Approximately 1,600 service members from three nations participate in flying, maintaining and supporting more than 70 aircraft from over 22 units during this iteration of exercise. The Paratroopers are assigned to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division, JTACs are assigned to the 3rd Air Operation Squadron both at JBER and ST operators are assigned to the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida. (U.S. Air Force photo by Sheila deVera)U.S. Army paratroopers, Air Force joint terminal attack controller and special tactic operators board a C-17 Globemaster III from the 517th Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, June 15, 2022, during Red Flag-Alaska 22-2. Approximately 1,600 service members from three nations participated in flying, maintaining and supporting more than 70 aircraft from over 22 units during this iteration of the exercise. (U.S. Air Force photo by Sheila deVera)
            
            
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**Agile Combat Employment** in action, right here at Red Flag,” Kubalek said. “All the maintenance teams bring tools and parts with them, but you can’t prepare for everything that might go wrong. I’ve watched Air Force, Navy and Singapore crews all putting their heads together for a fix, learn new techniques from other branches, and offer specialist skills to support each other as one team, one mission and find that interoperability to solve problems.”
The goal of Red Flag is learning as a team, and while individuals may improve from their exercise experience, the aspiration is to forge ever greater ability and efficiency in coalition fighting forces.
“This is a first-time experience for most people,” Gaetke said. “Yet leaving here, they will be Red Flag veterans, and that will set them apart for having the critical experience this exercise provides.”
The fighting forces of the U.S. military and its joint-force partners have and continue to place a high priority on the safety and security of the Indo-Pacific region. Red Flag has trained bilateral forces for more than 40 years to ensure the skill and deployable capability of its forces stand ready to face any challenge, anytime, anywhere.LR 



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