During Red Flag 21-3, hosted at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada, between July 19 and August 6, Blue Air pilots of multiple US forces came across a simulated Red Air enemy that no other Blue Air pilots during Exercise Red Flag have come across before.
Exercise Red Flag hosted by the 414th Combat Training Squadron (CTS) at Nellis AFB takes place multiple times a year. Red Flag is a training exercise for US and allied forces to develop combat readiness during both air-to-air and air-to-ground scenarios within a simulated operational theatre.
Squadrons from the US Air Force (USAF), US Marine Corps (USMC), Air National Guard (ANG) and US Navy (USN) participated in Red Flag 21-3. Working together as blue air units with airframes such as, the F-35A, F-16C/D, F-22A, F/A-18C/D, E/A-18G and the B-52H Bomber. Blue air units play the allied/friendly forces role during the Exercise. The Red Air units play the enemy role known commonly as the aggressors. Responsible for the aggressor role at Nellis AFB throughout Red Flag exercises are the 64th Fighter Squadron (FS) of the 57th Fighter Wing.
