Exercise Reports

Found 110 miles south of the Arctic Circle, Eielson Air Force Base was a hive of activity between June 8 and 23 2017 with pilots, maintainers and support staff from four air arms descending on the site for Exercise Red Flag Alaska 17-2 (RF-A 17-2). With participants from the United States [...]

Nellis Air Force Base (AFB) on the outskirts of Las Vegas, Nevada one of those 'meccas' for military aviation and on a number of occasions each year and, if you are an aviator or an enthusiast, it is very much the place to be for Exercise Red Flag. Kevin Bell provides this [...]

Between May 16 and 27, Ala 15 of the Ejército del Aire (Spanish Air Force) hosted this years edition of the annual NATO Tiger Meet (NTM) at their Zaragoza Air Base home. Two years have passed since the Ejército del Aire made firm its proposal to organise the ‘meet’ at [...]

Large multi-national air exercises where combined air operations can be executed against strategic and tactical targets provide excellent training opportunities for all participants, but the requirements to host this type of exercise are such that there are only three training centres in the world where they can take place. Of [...]

Running from April 11-22, Exercise Joint Warrior 16-1 was the latest installment of the long running "wargame" held in the UK. With just 30 ships being involved from 15 nations, this edition of the bi-annual exercise was - in terms of naval assets at least - smaller in comparison to [...]

The annual international Anatolian Eagle exercise held at Turkey's Konya air base took place in early/mid June against a backdrop of continued fighting against ISIL in Syria and Iraq, the conflict in Yemen between Shiite Houthi rebels and pro-government forces along with the constant unease in Libya. With so much [...]

Red Flag is an advanced aerial combat training exercise hosted at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. Since 1975, air crews from the United States Air Force (USAF), United States Navy (USN), and United States Marine Corps (USMC), United States Army (USA) and numerous NATO or other allied nations' air forces [...]

In December 2013 the 325nd Special Operations Group (SOG) deployed to RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire for a routine training exercise. Michael Buckle reports for AeroResource. Mid 2013 saw the arrival of two new aircraft types to RAF Mildenhall’s 352nd SOG. The delivery of the CV-22B and MC-130J marked the initial phase [...]

For two weeks during September, RAF Coningsby became a hive of activity with the base hosting guests from the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF - al-quwwāt al-ğawwiyyah al-malakiyyah as-suʿūdiyyah) as they joined the Royal Air Force to take part in Exercise Saudi-British Green Flag. The exercise, starting on September 4th, [...]

Exercise Joint Warrior 13-1, running from 15-29th April 2013, once again drew participation from multiple nations in one of Europe's largest military exercises. The aviation contingent was based at RAF Leuchars and Lossiemouth, from where Ben Montgomery reports for AeroResource. Organised under the control of the Joint Tactical Exercise Planning [...]

Red Flag is the United States Air Force’s premiere training exercise and involves aircraft from the United States and its Allies. Jason Grant explains the history behind the exercise and then travels with AeroResource’s Mark Forest to Nellis AFB to experience the first Red Flag of 2013, known as Red [...]

Every six months the United States Air Force (USAF) holds a Weapons School graduation exercise, known as the Mission Employment Phase. Units from the USAF and United States Navy (USN) join for the two week long exercise held at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada and the Nevada Test and Training [...]

Twice a year the United Kingdom hosts the biggest European military Exercise – Joint Warrior. During the second exercise of 2012, RAF Leuchars played host to the exercise's Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) contingent, and a detachment German Air Force Tornado’s. Duncan Monk reports from the Kingdom of Fife. Nestled in [...]

The annual Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) exercise was hosted in 2012 once again by Gando Air Base, on Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. On April 24th enthusiasts and photographers were invited to attend the “DACT” Spotter’s Day. Mark Forest reports for AeroResource on the events of the day, [...]

On the 14th March, the second 2012 Red Flag Media Day was held, under the direction of a new PAO. Represented by Robert Chapman and Mark Forest, AeroResource was along for the ride with many other photographers from around the world. After the cancellation of Red Flag 12-1, 12-3 was [...]

In 1929, the area that became Nellis AFB was just a dirt runway for Western Air Express Airlines. In January 1941, Las Vegas took over the airfield. Three days later, Mayor John L. Russell signed over much of the property to the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps to develop the flexible [...]